Rhodes House, Oxford | Stanton Williams

Designed by Sir Herbert Baker and completed in 1929, Rhodes House is located on South Parks Road, in the centre of historic Oxford. Set within extensive gardens, the building is the historic headquarters of the Rhodes Trust, an educational charity which oversees the world-renowned Rhodes Scholarships at the University of Oxford and several other global fellowship programmes.

Developed in close collaboration with the Rhodes Trust and the wider design and construction team, Stanton Williams’ scheme has transformed Rhodes House and gardens, with significant but respectful interventions that complement Herbert Baker’s architecture, while doubling its usable space and substantially improving its environmental performance. The project has carefully restored the 1920s building and its historic gardens and reorganised the site to establish clear circulation routes and zones, with new conference facilities in the centre; residential uses to the east; and new staff and scholar working accommodation to the west. The sensitive reconfiguration of the lodge buildings and ancillary spaces to the north of the site restored the symmetry of the main façade; while the newly crafted interior spaces engage with the gardens on multiple levels to draw natural daylight and fresh air into the building and enhance wellbeing.

Project Director: Mat Davies, Director of Estate, Rhodes House
Architect: Stanton Williams

Main Contractor: Beard Construction

Conservation Architect and Heritage Consultant: Pendery Architecture & Heritage

Heritage Assessment: Marcus Beale Architects

Structural Engineers: Webb Yates Engineers

Building Environment and Services Engineers: Skelly & Couch

Landscape Architect: Bradley-Hole Schoenaich Landscape Architects

Fire Consultant: Arup

Lighting Designers: Studio Fractal

Acoustic Engineers: Sandy Brown Associates

AV/IT Consultant: Hewshott International

Cost Consultant: Gleeds Cost Management

Planning Consultant – Savills

Ecologist: Applied Ecology

Arboriculturist: Heritage Tree Services

Archaeology Consultant: Museum of London Archaeology

Photography: Hufton+Crow, Neil Kenyon, Fischer Studios