An Oxford college is a permanent set of buildings and an impermanent set of people. Brasenose College has a rich and diverse history; the College began in 1509, before that it was many academic halls, only one of which bore the name Brasenose, in 1381. Under the reign of Henry III Oxford University extended courses designed to form a meeting ground between the strictly academic and the practical. The University was a place of general resort.
Brasenose and The Restoration
The Brasenose Chapel and Library are of interest as they were built in a time of great tension for England. The Restoration had torn apart the country and the College itself was in a drought for students. Due to the political restoration of 1660 and the Stuart Monarchy, Oxford became seen as the centre for Royalists as it was the biggest town near to London that had no Bishop, the University could be an autonomous body. New forms of architecture were created – no longer just functional – buildings became accommodating for different forms of sociability.
The original College was the lower two floors of the present Old Quadrangle, with the Hall and Tower at their present heights. The Chapel was in the south west corner; the site of the present Senior Common Room, and opposite was the Library, in the area now behind the sundial. The Principal’s Lodgings occupied most of the east side, including the Tower.
The opening of the new Library in about 1664 and the consecration of the new Chapel in 1666 made more space available in the Old Quad. This was all financed by former Principal Samuel Radcliffe (1656 to 1663) and completed in 1666.
(c) Brasenose College, University of Oxford; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
The foundation stone was laid in June 1656 and the foundations were finished in August. In March 1657 the ‘Little Cloister’ was begun, which still remains as the entrance to the Chapel, and the lead for the roof of this was paid for in July. Preparations for building the Library were started in November 1657, and the foundations were begun the following March. By the end of 1659 the Library was being glazed and the books were put in place chained in 1664.
The Architecture
The architectural style of Brasenose’s Chapel and Library is interesting as it is an amalgamation of Gothic and Classical architecture. The juxtaposition of the two styles could, if it were handled badly, be clumsy. The Gothic Revival was particularly associated with an intellectual and religious triangle formed in the South of England by Oxford, Cambridge and London; according to George Tyack since most of the more interesting minds and finer architectural talents were drawn to the Gothic Revival.. Seventeenth-century Gothic is the most curious in England, Tyack asserts, it persistently peeps out through Renaissance ornaments and classic frontispieces-cusps and crockets (Gothic forms) mix indiscriminately with orders and entablatures (Classical forms).
Oxford remained essentially Medieval until the clash of the Civil War broke in upon her dreams. John Summerson asserts however that we should not see Classical and Gothic architecture as entirely separate and opposite, supporting Tyacks’s view that Gothic stylings are seen emulated in Renaissance works. Summerson claims that they are related through the essentials of architecture and states that Classical architecture is recognisable only when there are illusions to the antique ‘orders’.
Where Gothic and Classical architecture collide
The East side of the Library, facing Radcliffe Square, uses Gothic arched windows with tracery underneath alongside classical pediments and castellation – or battlements- that run along the roof line. The use of such clean lines of the Classical style adds a satisfying geometry with the use of repetitive forms and perfectly encapsulates the combination of styles used. The focus is on the forms created and although it is not the most ornate use of Gothic architecture the essence can still be seen in the windows’ tracery.
Like the Library the Gothic pinnacles and crockets on the Chapel roof-line accentuate the stylistic choices as they are contrasted with the simple clean lines that create the the roof-line – with pinnacles following pilasters down to the base of the Chapel. The pinnacles, although again not especially ornate (for example the finial are not as emphasised) the clean lines of the rest of the building make it so they are more of a standalone feature. Brasenose Chapel was completed in 1666. The North Window of the ante-Chapel has following geometrical tracery, but it is framed into an architrave with a broken pediment above. The East Window has geometrical bar tracery with five lancets and a rose window they have pointed heads and geometrical tracery, but are flanked by pilasters with Corinthian capitals, supporting a regular entablature. Here the combination of styles can be seen again, playfully projecting elements.
The roof of the early Tudor Chapel was moved from an Augustianan college’s Chapel and moved to the Chapel of Brasenose College in 1656.The Augustinian college of St Mary, founded in 1453 occupied the house now known as Frewin Hall the college fell victim to the Reformation and this open hammer beam structure was transferred to Brasenose College. With the Hammer-beams above the plaster vault it is easy to assume that the trouble taken to transport a roof from the other side of the City implies a desire to preserve the roof, but this is a modern perception. Although the hammer beams can still be seen in the roof space above the Chapel the roof was not completely reconstructed. The point of the reuse was to save money on timber. The aesthetically astounding plaster fan vaulted ceiling was begun on Tuesday 14th June 1659. The ceiling was painted by C.E. Kempe in the 1890s and has been much praised and much criticized. The ribs of a fan vault are of equal curvature and create a central axis leading to their fan like shape which is said to be due to how the rib vault is created. The impressive shapes create a dominating element further emphasised by the Victorian addition of paint.
The Chapel has a classic t-form, the ante Chapel and Library are over a cloister. Inside the Chapel is the use of classical woodwork in the panelling which dates from the 1680s including the egg and dart cornice. Corinthian columns with stiff-leaf capitals and further classical plinths and spira do not amalgamate the styles, like the outside, but are tied together with the Gothic windows and ceiling, by doing this the mixture of styles is less obvious as both are ornate and grand. One could claim this is due to the function of the building, as a place of worship, clean simple lines would not seem appropriate for such hallowed ground and the grandeur of their religion.
To conclude Brasenose College’s Chapel and Library and the period of 1656 to 1666 serve as an interesting point on the architectural timeline of Oxford. They are significant because the building of a new Library and Chapel at Brasenose was the only major project in the period of the Commonwealth (between the fall of Charles I and 1666.) The wealth of the institution did not decline but the students did. With the Chapel’s and Library’s use of what is deemed as contrasting styles, whose usual proponents are hostile to one another, they instead create a satisfying harmony between the components in their architecture. The Chapel and Library could be seen as proving John Summerson’s theory that Gothic and Classical architecture are not completely worlds apart, if these styles were so jarring they would not be able to harmoniously work in the cases shown in Brasenose.
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