36 Holywell Street is possibly a seventeenth-century house that was refronted in the eighteenth century, but it has been much altered. It is owned by Wadham College.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1047235), with the following description:
No 36 SP 5106 NE 6/193 12.1.54. II GV 2.
House and shop. RCHM 197. Possibly a C18 refronting of a C17 house but much altered. Three-storeyed stuccoed timber-framing with a shop-front and coachway on East. Three C18 sash windows in plain wood frames and blind hoods. The back elevation appears to be an earlier work; there is a renewed gable of C17 style and the remains a group of red brick shafts.
Interior alterations 1967.
This house shared the side entrance next door (leading to Wadham Place) with No. 35 to the east, and in 1845 both houses were put up for sale with the yard in between and three cottages there: see No. 35 for the auction details. The builder Joseph Hope came to live in No. 36, and the yard behind took his name.
Nos. 35, 36, 37, and 38 Holywell Street now comprise Staircases XIII and XIV of Wadham College to the north.
The builder Jonathan Hope was at No. 36 from the 1840s, and on 1 March 1859 he suffered a fire on these premises.
The next occupant, the bookbinder William Mansell, only occupied this building for a short period, and on 24 August 1861 announced a sale of his printing presses and stock-in-trade on the premises as he was moving away from Oxford.
The Oxford builders Knowles & Son had their main office and yard here from 1872 to 1951. Thomas Richard Knowles died in 1892, and the business was carried on initially by his three trustees, namely his widow Mary Ann. Knowles, Henry E. East, and T. East Knowles. The Knowles company continued to have a showroom here until at least 1976.
36 Holywell Street in the censuses
1841
The 1841 census for Holywell does not give house numbers, but it is possible to deduce where people listed that year lived by examining directory entries between 1839 and 1842 and later censuses
James Knibbs (30), a gardener, lived here with Sarah Knibbs (60) and various tenants, plus two three servants (two male and one female).
1851
Joseph Hope (30), a builder employing nine men and one apprentice, lived here with his wife Maria (29) and an apprentice and house servant.
1861
William Mansell (32), a bookbinder, lived here with his wife Catherine (34) and children Catherine (10), William (8), John (4), and Ruth (2).
1871
Joseph Wiblin (62), a cabinet maker, lived here with his wife Sarah (65). They had one servant.
1881
Thomas R. Knowles (40), a builder, lived here with his wife Mary (41) and his children Edith (12), Thomas (10), Edward (8), Harold (4), and Marie (6 months). They had a general servant and a 14-year-old nursemaid.
1891
Thomas R. Knowles (50), described as a “builder, memorial mason &c”, still lived here with his wife Mary Ann (50) and their children Thomas (20), who was an architectural pupil, Edward (18), who was a builder's pupil, Harold (14), and Marie (10), plus his widowed sister-in-law Louisa Knowles (44), and a general servant.
1901
Edward Knowles (28), a builder and monumental mason and his sister Marie (20), the children of the previous owner, lived here with one general servant.
1911
Only a housekeeper was at the house on census night.
1921
Beach Cochrane (59), a cycle & motor factor employed by a company in Gloucester Street, lived here with his wife Florence (43) and their servant.
1939 Register
The pathologist Keith O. Newman was listed here on his own.
Occupants of 36 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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1772 |
Mr Pepal |
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1841–1845 |
James Knibbs (1841) |
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1846 |
Elizabeth Creed |
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1847–1859 |
Joseph Hope |
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1861 |
William Mansell |
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1866–1871 |
Joseph Wiblin, cabinet maker in 1866 John Wiblin by 1871 |
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1872–1976 |
T. R. Knowles, stone carver in 1872 T. R. Knowles Knowles & Son (Oxford) Building Ltd with Godfrey Noel Richardson, lecturer, Oriel College in 1894–1896 |
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1980 |
Holywell Antiques |
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Today |
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