The main buildings of Jesus College, one of the colleges of the University of Oxford, are located in the centre of the city of Oxford, England, between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street, and Market Street. Jesus College was founded in 1571 by Elizabeth I caused by the petition of a Welsh clergyman, Hugh Price, who was treasurer of St David's Cathedral. Her foundation charter gave to the college the land and buildings of White Hall, a university hall that had experienced a decline in student numbers. Price added new buildings to those of White Hall, and construction work continued after his death in 1574. The first of the college's quadrangles, which includes the hall, chapel, and principal's lodgings was completed between 1621 and 1630. Construction of the second quadrangle began in the 1630s, but was interrupted by the English Civil War and was not completed until about 1712. Further buildings were erected in a third quadrangle during the 20th century, including science laboratories (now closed), a library for undergraduates, and additional accommodation for students and fellows. In addition to the main site, the college owns flats in east and north Oxford, and a sports ground.
The chapel, which was dedicated in 1621 and extended in 1636, was extensively altered in 1864 under the supervision of the architect George Edmund Street. The alterations have had their supporters and their critics; one historian of the college (Ernest Hardy, principal from 1921 to 1925) described the work as "ill-considered". The hall's original hammerbeam roof was hidden by a plaster ceiling in 1741 when rooms were installed in the roof space. The principal's lodgings, the last part of the first quadrangle to be constructed, contain wooden panelling from the early 17th century. The Fellows' Library in the second quadrangle dates from 1679 and contains 11,000 antiquarian books; it was restored at a cost of £700,000 in 2007. A new Junior Common Room, about twice the size of its predecessor, was completed in the third quadrangle in 2002. Further student and teaching rooms were added in Ship Street, opposite the college, in 2010.
Eleven parts of the college are listed buildings, including all four sides of the first and second quadrangles. Nine parts, including the chapel, hall, and principal's lodgings, have the highest Grade I designation, given to buildings of exceptional interest. Two other parts (an external wall and an early 20th-century addition in the third quadrangle) have a Grade II designation, given to buildings of national importance and special interest. The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the first quadrangle as "small and pretty", and said that the reredos behind the chapel altar was "heavily gorgeous"; he was, however, critical of the Old Members' Building in the third quadrangle, opened in 1971, describing it as a "mannered and modish design". The historian John Julius Norwich said that the first quadrangle had "a curious charm", while the second quadrangle had "a strong feeling of unity owing to the somewhat relentless succession of ogival gables". The poet Sir John Betjeman said that the clear planning of the first and second quadrangles, coupled with the relationship of their size to the heights of the buildings around them, "make what would be undistinguished buildings judged on their detail, into something distinguished". However, he regarded the early 20th-century additions in the third quadrangle as "dull".
Layout
The college buildings on the main site are arranged in three quadrangles, the first quadrangle containing the oldest college buildings and the third quadrangle the newest. The quadrangles are often referred to as "First Quad", "Second Quad" and "Third Quad" for short. As is often the case in Oxford colleges, the rooms in the older buildings are connected to the quadrangles by a series of staircases, rather than horizontally to each other by internal corridors. The staircases are numbered (sometimes using Roman numerals): staircases 1 to 5 are in the first quadrangle; staircases 6 to 13 in the second quadrangle; and staircases 14 to 21 in the third quadrangle. The stairs on staircase 3 were replaced with stone steps in 1878, setting what one historian of the college (J. N. L. Baker, a fellow of the college from 1939 to 1971) termed "an unfortunate precedent", since the "ugly pattern" of staircase 3 was adopted when repairs were carried out to staircase 13 after a fire in 1882.
Foundation and buildings in 1571
The foundation charter of the college, issued by Elizabeth I on 27 June 1571 upon the petition of Hugh Price (treasurer of St David's Cathedral), gave to the college a site located between the present-day Market Street (to the south) and Ship Street (to the north); this remains part of the college's site. The charter also gave the buildings of White Hall, one of a number of university halls in this location.Hardy, p. 9 Halls provided lodgings and meals for students at the university, and sometimes lectures and tuition as well. As the system of colleges grew, however, halls declined in popularity and their sites and buildings tended to be taken over by colleges.Hardy, pp. 2, 4 White Hall itself had previously belonged to St Frideswide's Priory and dated back to the 13th century; it was described as "a large tenement with a great stone gate" and was sometimes known as Great White Hall.Baker (1954), p. 271 Over time, it seems to have absorbed neighbouring halls, including Little White Hall on Ship Street from about 1450, which was at one time owned by Osney Abbey. By 1571, however, White Hall was either completely or virtually deserted by students, making it possible for Price to secure the site for the new college.Hardy, pp. 11–12Baker (1971), p. 1 The college paid a quit-rent for the land upon which White Hall stood to Christ Church, Oxford, which had acquired the assets of St Frideswide's Priory. This was initially 26 shillings and 8 pence, but it had been reduced to 8 pence before 1631; it was paid until 1866, when the charge was redeemed. The land was described in Christ Church's records as extending "from the Street to the Walnut tree; & in breadth from the Bowling-Alley to the mud-wall", although no measurements were given.Allen (1998), p. 109
The college also acquired the sites of other former halls in the vicinity, including Laurence Hall, previously owned by Lincoln College.Hardy, p. 17 The last principal of White Hall, James Charnock, had taken a lease on Laurence Hall, but was unable to attract sufficient students to satisfy Lincoln College and so he transferred the lease to Griffith Lloyd, who was principal of Jesus College from 1572 until his death in 1586; Lloyd bequeathed the lease to the college in his will.Allen (1998), p. 112Allen (1998), p. 124 Part of the college chapel was later erected on the site, which measured .
First quadrangle
Construction
The first quadrangle is smaller than the later second quadrangle, measuring 93 feet 6 inches by 77 feet (28.50 by 23 m).Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, p. 60 The buildings that now surround the first quadrangle were erected in stages between 1571 and the 1620s; the principal's lodgings were the last to be built. Progress was slow because the new college lacked the "generous endowments" that earlier colleges enjoyed.Tyack, p. 82 Before new buildings were completed, the students lived in the old buildings of White Hall. Between 1571 and his death in 1574, Price spent about £1,500 on the construction of buildings that were two storeys high. These ran from Turl Street (on the east of the site) south towards the corner of Cheyney Lane (as Market Street was then known) and then west along Cheyney Lane to the buildings of the old Great White Hall.Hardy, p. 18 Land at the corner of Turl Street and Cheyney Lane was leased and built upon, and then purchased in 1580. There is a college tradition, recorded in the college's first book of benefactors in the 17th century, that Elizabeth I gave "all kind of timber" from Shotover and Stow Wood for buildings erected by Price. Until the later building works of Griffith Powell and Sir Eubule Thelwall (principals from 1613 to 1620 and 1621 to 1630 respectively), the college site consisted of "a number of smallish, mainly detached buildings with nothing resembling a formal garden layout in between".
Ralph Agas's 1578 map of Oxford shows the extent of the buildings at that time. Laurence Hall is the "isolated group of buildings"Allen (1998), p. 110 on the corner of Turl Street and Ship Street. There is then a gap along Turl Street before a building positioned south of the current entrance with glazed windows facing Turl Street and a large window or loft door at its north end; another building then runs to the old White Hall buildings. The Turl Street entrance appears from Agas's map to date from after Price's death, and the north side of the building on Turl Street may have been integrated into an extension early in the 17th century, although the date of such work is unclear;Allen (1998), pp. 112–113 Price is nevertheless sometimes given the credit for the archway on the inside of the entrance on the first quadrangle.Baker (1971), p. 3 Overall, whilst the structure of the buildings erected by Price remains, only a little of his work can be seen from the outside, after various alterations in the intervening centuries;Norwich, p. 514 nevertheless, his buildings have been said to retain "much of their original character".
Some land in Ship Street to the west of the college was leased from Exeter College in 1590, and further construction work took place after Powell was appointed principal in 1613.Hardy, p. 37 Powell raised money from donors in Oxford, London, and Wales, collecting £838 12s 2d in what has been described as "an elaborate fundraising scheme", with efforts to attract donations from old members of the college.Tyacke, Nicholas "Introduction", p. 1, in Tyacke Ann Lloyd, the widow of Griffith Lloyd (principal from 1572 to 1586) gave £100. Richard Parry, the Bishop of St Asaph, gave £66 13s 4d out of the total from Welsh clergy of £78 7s 4d. The old Great White Hall buildings were demolished around 1620 and replaced, and a kitchen and buttery were constructed.Baker (1954), p. 272Hardy, pp. 37–38 Work also started on building the hall and the chapel under Powell; both were completed after his death in 1620. Sir Eubule Thelwall, who became principal in 1621, raised £465 15s 6d from donors, including Sir Julius Caesar, the Master of the Rolls, and Edward Littleton, the Recorder of London. This was used for "the perfecting of the Quadrangle of the building and furnishing of the library". The college then had a complete quadrangle of buildings, save for a gap between the chapel and the hall that would later be filled by the principal's lodgings, built by Thelwall at his own expense; the library (later demolished) was outside the quadrangle, to the west of the north end of the lodgings.
The walls of the college were built using rubble from Oxfordshire dressed with local stone.Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, p. 59 The remaining parts of the 17th-century walls are dressed with Headington stone, which was a common building material in Oxford at that time: the geologist W. J. Arkell wrote that it was used for every building in Oxford constructed during this century for which records exist.Arkell, p. 49 Areas of Headington stone can be seen in the first quadrangle on the wall of the hall. It was only discovered towards the end of the 18th century that it did not weather well:Arkell, p. 52 the surface of the stone develops a hard crust, which blisters, bursts and comes off.Arkell, p. 152 Much of it has subsequently been replaced with other materials as a result.
Later work