Freud (aka Freud's) is a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in a Victorian former church building at 119 Walton Street in Jericho,

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]. The Freud café is located opposite Great Clarendon Street and the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

is also opposite to the south. It is surrounded by the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, formerly the Radcliffe Infirmary site. The Freud café is housed in the former St Paul's Church, a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

building designed in 1836 by

Henry Jones Underwood Henry Jones Underwood (1804–1852) was an English architect who spent most of his career in Oxford. He was the brother of the architects Charles Underwood (''circa'' 1791–1883) and George Allen Underwood (dates unknown). Underwood t ...

. The church was inspired by an outbreak of cholera in the area in 1831. The building has an imposing portico with Ionic columns. The architect

Edward George Bruton Edward George Bruton (17 February 1826 – 3 August 1899) was a British Gothic Revival architect who practised in Oxford. He was made an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1855 and a Fellow of the RIBA in 1861. Bo ...

added the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

in 1853 and

Frederick Charles Eden Frederick Charles Eden (8 March 1864 – 15 July 1944) was an English church architect and designer. Frederick Eden was born in Brighton, Sussex, England. He was the son of Frederick Morton Eden and Louisa Ann Parker. Eden was a pupil and late ...

remodelled the interior in 1908. In the 20th century, the church became redundant and was closed in the late 1960s. After

deconsecration Deconsecration, also called secularization, is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion. The practice is usually performed on churches or synagogues to b ...

, the building was bought by the Oxford Area Arts Council and used as a theatre and arts centre venue. In 1988, the building was acquired by Secession Ltd to prevent the building's demolition. Freud opened as a café/bar in the same year. The cafe was created by David Freud, a graduate of the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

, who has an interest in buildings and their interaction with people. There is sometimes live music, such as jazz, punk,

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

or blues. The name is often written in Roman-style capital lettering as "FREVD", for example above the main entrance door. In 2015, a new building for the

Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is a school of public policy founded in 2010 at the University of Oxford in England. The School was founded following a £75 million donation from a business magnate Leonard Blavatnik, supported by £26 million ...

of Oxford University on the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter site was opened immediately to the south of Freud. The scheme was opposed by the cafe's owner, David Freud, due to its size and height compared to the church building. There is another Freud café-bar in London.

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External links

* {{coord, 51.75946, -1.26478, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Commercial buildings completed in 1836 1988 establishments in England Restaurants in Oxfordshire Italian restaurants in the United Kingdom Coffeehouses and cafés in the United Kingdom Former churches in Oxford Former theatres in England Arts centres in England Greek Revival architecture in the United Kingdom Culture in Oxford

See also

References

External links