Tagged: Architecture

No students, the hardest exam in the world, and Hawksmoor's twin towers

One of Oxford's oldest colleges — plain outside, historically significant inside

One of the oldest libraries in Europe — the Divinity School, Duke Humfrey's Library, and the Radcliffe Camera.

Right behind the Radcliffe Camera — an intimate college with a painted chapel ceiling

Hertford College's 1914 covered skyway over New College Lane — Oxford's most photographed bridge, despite resembling neither of the actual Bridges of Sighs.

Oxford's grandest college — part cathedral, part palace, all spectacle

One of Oxford's smallest colleges, with a famous pelican sundial

Tolkien's college, a miniature Sainte-Chapelle, and a hidden view over Radcliffe Square

A modern graduate college wrapped around a Georgian observatory tower

Oxford's mature-student college with Burne-Jones and William Morris stained glass

Home of the Bridge of Sighs — Oxford’s most photographed architectural moment

The Welsh college on Turl Street — quieter than its neighbours, full of character

Victorian polychrome brick — Oxford's most divisive building and a masterpiece painting

Oxford's part-time and continuing education hub — not a tourist destination

Riverside gardens and pioneering history, away from the tourist crush

An eco-focused graduate college — admirable but not a visitor attraction

A perfectly preserved medieval gem on Turl Street — John Wesley's college

Extensive grounds with a deer park, river walks, and a famous tower

The 144-foot perpendicular Gothic tower of Magdalen College (1509) — the centrepiece of the High Street and the gathering point for May Morning.

A Nonconformist college with a Gothic Revival chapel and progressive spirit

Oxford's oldest quad, a medieval library, and Tolkien's second home

Medieval cloisters, a stretch of city wall, and a chapel with an El Greco

Oxford's social science powerhouse — architecturally divisive, intellectually formidable

Oxford's oldest royal foundation — seven centuries on a beautiful square

Samuel Johnson's college — quietly handsome, just off St Aldate's

James Gibbs's English Palladian rotunda (1749) — the first circular library in the country and the most photographed building in Oxford.

A tiny Baptist hall on St Giles' — small and friendly

Sir Christopher Wren's first major building (1668) — the University's ceremonial assembly hall, with a painted ceiling and a viewing cupola.

A pioneering women's college — alumni include Thatcher, Sayers, and Indira Gandhi

A modernist campus college with a strong access ethos — not a sightseeing stop

Oxford's international affairs college — impressive seminars, not impressive buildings

Designed by Arne Jacobsen — a complete modernist campus with sculpture gardens by the Cherwell

A small graduate college sharing the Grade II-listed Pusey House on St Giles'

The oldest academic hall in any university — 800 years in a tiny quad off Queen's Lane

Oxford's last single-sex college (until 2008), with Cherwell riverside gardens

14 acres of gardens in North Oxford — one of the largest college grounds in the university

Oxford's wealthiest college — Canterbury Quad, large gardens, and serious money

A young college on an ancient site — unassuming but well located near the castle

A baroque showpiece on the High Street — Oxford's only fully classical college

Sir Christopher Wren's Gothic-revival gatehouse tower at Christ Church (1682) — home of Great Tom, the bell that still rings 101 times every night.

The Jacobean entrance tower of the Bodleian — a single building demonstrating all five classical orders, stacked vertically.

Spacious gardens and a Wren chapel on Broad Street — often overlooked

Possibly Oxford's oldest college — Shelley's memorial and a long High Street facade

A well-preserved Jacobean quad, large gardens, and a progressive reputation

Isaiah Berlin's riverside graduate college — Powell & Moya's Grade II-listed modernist campus

A lake, medieval cottages, and large gardens — one of central Oxford's hidden landscapes

The Oxford that most visitors walk straight past — back alleys, medieval doorways, hidden gardens, and quiet corners.

The essential Oxford walk — 10 colleges, 2 libraries, and 800 years of architecture in 90 minutes.