Observatory Street is a street 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. It links at the eastern end Woodstock Road (opposite

Bevington Road Bevington Road is a residential road in central North Oxford, England. The road runs between Woodstock Road (opposite Observatory Street) to the west and Banbury Road to the east. Winchester Road leads north from halfway along Bevington Roa ...

and St Anne's College and nearly opposite St Antony's College) in central

North Oxford North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College. Overview The le ...

and at the western end Walton Street and the

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

area of

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 ...

. The street borders the north side of

Green Templeton College Green Templeton College (GTC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college is located on the previous Green College site on Woodstock Road next to the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in North Oxford and ...

, one of the

Oxford University 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 ...

colleges, which has some student accommodation in the street. The street is named after the

Radcliffe Observatory Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and built a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a Grade I listed building. Today, the obse ...

(completed in 1794), which now forms a centrepiece for the College. To the north is

St Bernard's Road St Bernard's Road is a residential road in North Oxford, England, connecting the southern end of Kingston Road and the northern end of Walton Street, at the junction with Walton Well Road, to the west with Woodstock Road, opposite Bevingto ...

. Observatory Street, developed from 1834, mainly consists of terraced houses directly on the street, many characterized by brightly painted

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed fronts in a variety of colours, especially on the south side of the street, which is very late

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

. Once built as small dwellings for poorer inhabitants of Oxford, often workers on early railway and canal construction, the houses now command high prices because of the central location of the street, within easy walking distance of the city centre and close to the Oxford University Humanities and

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

site on the

Radcliffe Observatory Quarter The Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ) is a major University of Oxford development project in Oxford, England, in the estate of the old Radcliffe Infirmary hospital. The site, covering 10 acres (3.7 hectares) is in central north Oxford. It is b ...

.Observatory Street Oxford OX2House Prices
Belsyre Court is located on the north side at the east end of Observatory Street, Woodstock Road, and the south side at the east end of St Bernard's Road. It was designed by Ernest R. Barrow and built in 1936. Belsyre Court was the first large

block of flats An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are man ...

in Oxford. An

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

office was located here from 1936 until the early 1990s. Adelaide Street branches off Observatory Street partway along and runs parallel to the north at the western end, also connecting with Walton Street.

References

{{coord, 51.76119, N, 1.26541, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1834 establishments in England Odonyms referring to a building Streets in Oxford Green Templeton College, Oxford