St John Street is a

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

in central

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 street mainly consists of

Georgian-style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...

stone-faced

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

terraced houses. It was built as a speculative development by St John's College starting in the 1820s and finishing in the 1840s at the start of the Victorian era. At the northern end is

Rewley House Rewley House, located on the corner of Wellington Square and St John Street in the city of Oxford, England, is the primary base of Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education (previously the Department of External Studies). Histor ...

(housing

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 ...

Department of Continuing Education Oxford University Department for Continuing Education (OUDCE) is a department within the University of Oxford that provides continuing education mainly for part-time and mature students. It is located at Rewley House, Wellington Square, and at ...

) and near the southern end is the

Sackler Library The Sackler Library holds a large portion of the classical, art historical, and archaeological works belonging to the University of Oxford, England. History The Sackler Library building was completed in 2001 and opened on 24 September of tha ...

, which opened in 2001. To the south is

Beaumont Street Beaumont Street is a street in the centre of Oxford, England. The street was laid out from 1828 to 1837 with elegant terraced houses in the Regency style. Before that, it was the location of Beaumont Palace, now noted by a plaque near the ju ...

and to the north is

Wellington Square Wellington Square may refer to: * A neighbourhood in Burlington, Ontario, Canada * Wellington Square, Chelsea, a garden square in Chelsea, London * A square in Hastings, on the south coast of England * A square in Kolkata, India, renamed Subodh ...

. St John Street runs parallel with St Giles' (linked via

Pusey Street Pusey Street links the wide thoroughfare of St Giles' Street (opposite St John's College) to the east with St John Street to the west in the St John Street area of central Oxford, England. Pusey Street, formerly called Alfred Street, was ...

) to the east and Walton Street to the west. Note that part of

Merton Street Merton Street is a historic and picturesque cobbled street in central Oxford, England. ...

was once known as St John Street.

Notable residents

The

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

-born painter William Turner (1789–1862) (not to be confused with J. M. W. Turner) lived at No. 16 from 1833 until his death. The house is marked with a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

. Other famous residents of St John Street have included the theologians Henry Chadwick and

Arthur Peacocke Arthur Robert Peacocke (29 November 1924 – 21 October 2006) was an English Anglican theologian and biochemist. Biography Arthur Robert Peacocke was born in Watford, England, on 29 November 1924. He was educated at Watford Grammar School fo ...

; authors

P. D. James Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring th ...

Iain Pears Iain George Pears (born 8 August 1955) is an English art historian, novelist and journalist. Personal life Pears was born on 8 August 1955 in Coventry, England. He was educated at Warwick School, an all-boys public school in Warwick. He studied ...

and

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

; and musician

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...

. Ludwig Wittgenstein also lived there towards the end of his life. The

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the

Museum of the History of Science The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from th ...

(in Broad Street, not far away),

Kurt Josten Conrad Hermann Hubertus Maria Apollinaris JostenIan Lowe ''The Independent'', 12 July 1994. (7 June 1912 in Neuss, Germany – 10 July 1994 in Neuss), known as Kurt Josten or C. H. Josten, was a historian of science and Curator of the Museum of t ...

, lived in rooms in St John Street. The founders of the high IQ society

Mensa International Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa formally compr ...

Lancelot Ware Lancelot Lionel Ware OBE (5 June 191515 August 2000) was an English barrister and biochemist. He co-founded Mensa, the international society for intellectually gifted people, with the Australian barrister Roland Berrill in 1946. It was origin ...

and

Roland Berrill Roland Fabien Berrill (1897–1962) was a British-Australian who was the co-founder (with the English barrister Lancelot Ware) of Mensa, the international society for intellectually gifted people. The founding of Mensa Mensa was founded by Ber ...

, lived in rooms at 12 St John Street when they started the society in 1946.

References

External links

Summer Rain in St John StreetOxford Daily Photo
26 July 2007 Streets in Oxford Grade II listed buildings in Oxford St John's College, Oxford Kellogg College, Oxford J. R. R. Tolkien {{England-road-stub