Nos. 9–10: St John's College building
No. 9 (shown above) dates from about 1600. It was once the dairy of a farm, and Jackson's Oxford Journal reports in 1871 that the remains of some earlier buildings were discovered during restorations that year.
For at least 150 years, up to 1905, No. 9 was a solicitor's office. In that year it was restored by N.W. Harrison for St John's College. The downstairs was used as their Estates Office the next 56 years, and the upstairs as student rooms. The building was restored again by the college in 1962.
Nos. 10 and 10A were behind this building, but were demolished in 1906 to make way for the Rawlinson Building (the north end of the North Quadrangle). Thomas Grimsley, a “sculptor and patent roof & terracotta manufacturer” (who had moved from 76 St Giles' Street opposite in 1841 when it was demolished to make way for the Taylorian) had his premises here in the 1840s. He designed Headington National School (1847) and St Paul's Girls' School in Walton Street (1848) using structural terracotta rather than wood to reduce carpenters' bills, and sculpted the statue of Thomas Rowney that stood over the old Town Hall. He moved to a third location in St Giles, at No. 27, in about 1851.
| Occupants listed in censuses and
directories (grey background = earlier building) |
|||
| Date | 9 St Giles' Street | 10 St Giles' Street | 10a St Giles' Street |
| 1839 | P. Walsh & Son Solicitors |
— | — |
| 1846–51 | Walsh & Dayman Solicitors (offices only: uninhabited) |
Thomas Grimsley Sculptor |
William Glover Agent /Butler of St John's College |
| 1861–6 | Thomas Wood Clerk and wine & spirit merchant |
Sisters of Mercy Charity School |
|
| 1867 | Dayman & Walsh Solicitors |
J. Savage Butler, University College |
William Parker Butler, Balliol College |
| 1875–89 | John Wilkins Butler, St John's |
||
| 1890–93 | Percival Walsh John Gorden Walsh Solicitors |
John Wilkins, jun. | |
| 1894–8 | Miss Hiles | ||
| 1899–1902 | Mrs Slay Lodging house |
||
| 1903–5 | Henry Brooks | ||
| 1906–9 | St John's College Estates Office | ||
| 1910–1962 | St John's College Estates Office | ||
| 1964–present | Part of St John's College | ||