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Old Radders

The devil in me, while entirely appreciative of the beauty of Radcliffe Camera, sometimes wonders if the handsome square it is in might be better off without it. What would it look like?

Ah, I see.

In actual fact, it is wrong to think of the Rad Cam as having been built in this square between St. Mary’s, Brasenose, All Souls, and the Bodleian. John Radcliffe’s will clearly intended it to be built in this place, but this wish was initially ignored, and the thought was to add Radcliffe’s library to the Selden end of the Bodleian.

Hawksmoor prepared plans for a two-storied library on Exeter College land, the bottom storey of which would house a new library for the college and the upper storey of which would house Radcliffe’s scientific books.

The site the Radcliffe Camera was actually built on, in accordance with the benefactor’s wishes, was not an open square but rather full of tenement houses, small gardens, and some Brasenose College outbuildings.

The complications of purchasing it in its entirety were such that an Act of Parliament was required (passed in 1720), and the negotiations with various involved parties took over twenty years.

Both Hawksmoor and Gibbs were invited to submit proposals for the Radcliffe library, but of course it was Gibbs’s brilliant plan that was chosen. (A model of Hawksmoor’s proposal is in the Ashmolean).

Construction to Gibb’s design began in 1737 and was completed in 1748. The square which it created for its home was originally part cobbled, part gravel, and part paved, but lawns were laid in 1827 and it took the basic appearance it keeps to this day.

One of the finest buildings in England though, wouldn’t you say?

Published at 11:11 am on Wednesday 4 March 2009. Categories: Architecture Great Britain Tags: , , .
Comments

Italian vocabulary in the UK… It will always lighten up the atmosphere!

— IM 9 Mar 2009 5:29 pm
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