Entrance to Cotuit Hall on Pullens Lane, Oxford

Cotuit Hall is part of the

EF International Academy EF Education First (abbreviated as EF) is an international education company that specializes in language training, educational travel, academic degree programs, and cultural exchange. The company was founded in 1965 by Bertil Hult in the Swe ...

's campus in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Until 2011 it was one of the

halls of residence A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

History

The hall was originally named Napier House after its commissioner and first occupant,

Arthur Sampson Napier Arthur Sampson Napier (1853–1916) was a British philologist. He was Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford, from 1885 and also Rawlinsonian Professor of Anglo-Saxon since 1903. Napier was appointed a fellow o ...

. A fellow of

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ch ...

and professor of English language and literature, he employed the architect

Harry Wilkinson Moore Harry Wilkinson Moore, FRIBA (1850–1915) was a Victorian and Edwardian architect. He was the son of Arthur Moore (1814–1873) and Mary Wilkinson (1821–1904), and a nephew of the architects George Wilkinson and William Wilkinson. Caree ...

to design a house for himself, his wife, their six children and four servants. The house was to be built on land he had recently purchased in Pullen's Lane at the top of

Headington Hill Headington Hill is a hill in the east of Oxford, England, in the suburb of Headington. The Headington Road goes up the hill leading out of the city. There are good views of the spires of Oxford from the hill, especially from the top of South Park ...

, an area of growing favour among

academics. The house was completed in 1892, and Napier lived there with his family until his death in 1916. Napier House was then bought at auction by

Headington School Headington School is an independent girls' school in Headington, Oxford, England, founded by a group of evangelical Christians in 1915. The ''Good Schools Guide'' called Headington "A delightful school, hichnurtures and entertains its pupils wh ...

, who used the building to house their junior department. In 1930, the senior school moved into new buildings, and the junior section moved into its current location on the south side of London Road (where the senior school had previously been). The name of Napier House moved with the school. The building, thus vacated, reverted for a time to being a private dwelling, and was given its current name of Cotuit Hall. The origin of the name is uncertain: Cotuit is the name of a village in

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. In this period, it was occupied by

Redvers Opie Redvers Opie (1900–1984) was a British economist. On the recommendation of John Maynard Keynes, he became the United Kingdom Treasury representative in Washington, D.C., as Counsellor and economic adviser at the British Embassy, 1939–46, a ...

, fellow and tutor in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...

. From the 1940s until 1958, Cotuit Hall was the City of Oxford Children's Home, which relocated to Windmill rd, Headington to become Windmill House. In the late 1950s, it again became a private house, occupied by the Reverend D. B. Jones, but by 1962 it had become a Hostel of the College of Technology, which later became the Polytechnic and then Oxford Brookes University. In 2011 it was sold by Oxford Brookes University to the EF International Academy, who use it for students aged 16–18 taking two-year A-level or International Baccalaureate residential courses.

References

External links

Cotuit Hall official website

{{coord , 51.7603, -1.2270, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Oxford Brookes University 1892 establishments in England Residential buildings completed in 1892 Buildings and structures in Oxford Halls of residence in the United Kingdom