Editing Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (section)

==Buildings==
Throughout its existence, Wycliffe has been located in the Victorian suburb of [[North Oxford]]. A site in the centre of Oxford was sought at the hall's foundation, and again in the 1890s, but neither attempt succeeded.<ref name="smith">{{cite book | title=St Peter's; The Founding of an Oxford College | author=Smith, Eric | year=1978 |publisher=[[Colin Smythe]] | location=Gerrard's Cross | pages=18 | isbn=0-901072-99-0}}</ref> The original buildings on the Wycliffe Hall site were designed in the 1860s as family houses, until converted to their present use later in the nineteenth century.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

[[File:Facade of 54 Banbury Road.jpg|thumb|left|The original part of Wycliffe Hall - 54 Banbury Road, 'Laleham']]
The hall - No. 54 Banbury Road was designed by [[John Gibbs (architect)|John Gibbs]] in 1866 and built for [[Tom Arnold (literary scholar)|Tom Arnold the younger]], literary scholar and son of [[Thomas Arnold|Tom Arnold the elder]], head of [[Rugby School]]. The house, named "Laleham", after the Arnolds' former residence in [[Middlesex]], was larger than normal, even in a neighbourhood known for substantial houses. This size was to accommodate Arnold's anticipated in-house tutees. Within a decade, Arnold decided to sell No. 54 as the tutorial business was abandoned. A committee of evangelical churchmen bought the property in 1877 and promptly renamed it Wycliffe Hall. In the early years, the northerly main room was the library-cum-lecture room, while the southerly one was the dining room. Additions were soon made to the house by [[William Wilkinson (architect)|William Wilkinson]] and [[Harry Wilkinson Moore]] in 1882–1883. The new North Wing contained a dozen additional student rooms, while South Wing, housed the hall's purpose-built library as well as a new front entrance, thus allowing the dining room to be extended into the hall of No. 54. A new purpose-built dining hall was built on the road-side (i.e. west) of No. 54 Banbury Road in 1913, blocking off both of the original main entrances to the hall (the 1866 and 1883 doors), but providing a new front door featuring the hall and university shields in the stonework doorframe, still visible today. South Wing was converted for use as an additional common room (the LCR) in 1974, while the dining hall was converted for use as a lecture theatre in 1980.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Old Lodge - No. 52 Banbury Road lies immediately south of No. 54, at the junction with [[Norham Gardens]], and was designed by [[Frederick Codd]] in 1868.<ref name="hinchcliffe">{{cite book | title=North Oxford | author=Hinchcliffe, Tanis | year=1992 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] | location=New Haven & London | pages=143–144, 151–153, 217 | isbn=0-14-071045-0}}</ref><ref name="pevsner">{{cite book |author=Sherwood, Jennifer |author2=Pevsner, Nikolaus |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner  |title=[[The Buildings of England]]: Oxfordshire |year=1974 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|location=Harmondsworth |page=319 |isbn=0-14-071045-0 }}</ref> It initially housed the Holy Rood Convent (an [[Anglo-Catholic]] [[nunnery]] of the [[Former religious orders in the Anglican Communion#Society of the Most Holy Trinity (SHT)|Society of the Most Holy Trinity]], which was involved in printing the works of [[John Henry Newman]]). The hall acquired No. 52 when the sisters sold up in 1883. This second villa initially functioned as the principal's residence, but in 1930 was converted to contain both student and staff common rooms on the ground floor – hence 'Old' Lodge. In 1974 the hall's library was moved from South Wing into Old Lodge, where it remains to this day.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

A chapel and bellcote was added between No. 54 and No. 52 in 1896, designed by architect George Wallace.<ref name="pevsner" /> The chapel was opened by the [[Bishop of Oxford]] and has a stained-glass window depicting John Wycliffe. A vestry was added to the south side of the chapel in the 1930s, which is now being used as a prayer room. A 1961 reordering of the east end saw the introduction of candlesticks and altar frontals, which were removed in a later reordering. The 1960s metal reredos cross is now hung in the corridor between the main part of the hall and Old Lodge.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

[[File:2_Norham_Gardens_front.jpg|thumb|right|No. 2 Norham Gardens, the Principal's lodge from 1930 to 1987]]
During the twentieth century, a number of houses in Norham Gardens were also acquired by the hall, including No. 2 in 1930 (which date also saw the acquisition of the freeholds from St John's College). The gardens of No. 2 and No. 4 remained separately delineated by their original brick party walls for some decades, but these grounds were amalgamated with the garden of 54 Banbury Road to form a large green space on the site in the late 1960s. No. 2 Norham Gardens was used as a replacement lodging for the hall's principal through much of the century, but saw use by [[TocH]] during the [[Second World War]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Various schemes were considered in the late 1960s and early 1970s for merging Wycliffe with other institutions, including [[Mansfield College, Oxford]], [[St Stephen's House, Oxford]], and [[Ripon Hall]]. Options under serious consideration by the Hall Council included the demolition of one or more of the four original villas; operating a split-site college with St Stephen's; and selling the original buildings to rebuild on part of Mansfield's site or elsewhere in or out of the city. None of these schemes came to pass.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The Talbot Rice Dining Hall was built to the east of No. 54 Banbury Road and opened in October 1980, allowing the 1913 dining hall to become a lecture theatre. At the same time St Stephen's House moved to Iffley Road and the Hall Council considered buying No. 17–19 Norham Gardens, but ultimately was out-bid by [[St Edmund Hall, Oxford]]. Later in the same decade No. 2a Norham Gardens was built as a new lodging for the principal. The last major building work on the main site was the western extension of No. 2 Norham Gardens in the mid-1990s to provide additional accommodation and offices. No. 8 Norham Gardens was acquired in the early 2000s.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}