Colleges clash over St Hilda’s ‘bulky and inelegant’ redesign
TWO Oxford colleges are embroiled in a row over the “inelegant and bulky” redesign of St Hilda’s, which officials at Christ Church claim will ruin their view.
Christ Church, one of Oxford’s oldest and most prestigious colleges, has lodged a formal objection to the building project proposed by its newer neighbour.
Invoking their role as the “custodians” of the landscape, officials from Christ Church said it was a duty which they have “successfully maintained and defended for many centuries”.
Christ Church, which was founded in 1546, boasts 13 British prime ministers among its alumni, along with King Edward VII, the writers Lewis Carroll and W H Auden, and the philosopher John Locke.
It has its own tower, which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and its Great Dining Hall was the seat of the parliament assembled by Charles I during the English Civil War.
Meanwhile, St Hilda’s College is considered to be one of the campus’s more modern institutions, having been founded in 1893 as a women-only hall. It began accepting male students for the first time in 2008, and its endowment is roughly ten times smaller than that of Christ Church.
St Hilda’s College is planning a major expansion project to mark its 125th anniversary, which will involve erecting a tower, as well as 59 new student rooms, a common room and offices.
Officials at Christ Church told Oxford city council that the building project will have “significant implications” for them. “The redevelopment, especially the tower, will have an impact on the setting of the Grade I Christ Church registered park and garden,” their submission said, according to documents published by the council.
“The site is protected by a great many statutory and non-statutory designations. The built areas, the Meadow and Merton Field are within the Grade I landscape included in the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest.”
The complaint went on to state that the proposed structure is “inelegant and bulky” and will lead to “significant light pollution of the Meadow after dusk”. “In its current form, it will spoil the view from the path along the Cherwell over Milham Mede as well as from the end of the Botanic Garden,” the college added.
Despite the objections, the council’s planning committee backed the St Hilda’s expansion plan at a meeting earlier this week. Historic England also supported the plans, saying that they will be an “elegant and attractive set of buildings” which are “well adapted to [their] context”.
St Hilda’s College welcomed the council backing, saying the new buildings will provide “an excellent environment for our students to flourish and raise St Hilda’s profile as a world-class centre of teaching and research”.