Description

HOLLOW WAY, COWLEY 1. 5353 (West Side) 26/733 The Nuffield Press, East Wing and attached former School House II 2. Formerly school and military college, then car factory, now mainly offices for printing works. Former School House 1852; East Wing 1877-8 by Sir T G Jackson; C20 alterationr,restored 1983. East Wing. Rendered with terracotta enrichments and brick dressings. Plain-tile hipped roof with truncated ridge stack to right above a Dutch gable. Renaissance-Revival style. 3-storey, 10-window range of mainly 2-light cross windows with glazing bars. Brick surrounds and cut-brick aprons. The 3rd bay from right breaks forward slightly under the gable and has a tall window at 2nd floor. Terracotta moulded strings. To rear there are elaborate terracotta pilasters and entralatures dividing the bays and floors, with recessed blank ovals on 2nd floor. Rubble stone wall to left where intended cowl was left unfinished. Attached to left of East Wing is the former School House. Coursed rubble stone with ashlar dressings and Welsh slate roof with stone end and lateral stacks. L-plan. 2 storeys and attic. Front to Hollow Way is of 5-window range: mostly 2-light stone mullioned and transomed windows to ground and 1st floors. Gable to right has canted oriel to lst floor and 3-light attic window. Two 3-light roof dormers. Front to Oxford Road is similar, of 4-window range with canted bay ground floor window to gable to right and small attic oriel. Three 2-light roof dormers. Ground floor and gable windows have hood moulds. Stone-coped shouldered gable parapets with kneelers, and stone parapets. Interiors altered but Lord Nuffield's office from 1912-63 in School House, has been retained. The School House was built for Cowley College and the East Wing for the Oxford Military College. In 1912 William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, converted the East Wing for the Morris car factory and from 1913 'bullnose' Morris Oxfords were produced in it. "Car parts were received and any machining and drilling carried out on the ground floor; the first floor being used for assembling the chassis frame and the fitting of engines and wheels. Car bodies were fitted to the chassis on the second floor while the loft was used for storage and painting wheels." (Stratton, M., From Trestles to Track: The Conservation of Historic Car Factories in the UK. Research paper for HBMCE by Institute of Industrial Archaeology, 1986, ptl, plO; pt2, p18 and p38-9. Sheppard, J.M., Nuffield Press, A Jubilee History, 1985, p5, 12 - 23 and illustrations). The other buildings at the Nuffield Press are not of special architectural interest.

Listing NGR: SP5463904264

External Links

• Wikidata Q26299194

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