The Blue Boar Quadrangle is a mid-century quadrangle within Christ Church,

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

. Designed by

Hidalgo Moya John Hidalgo Moya (5 May 1920 – 3 August 1994), sometimes known as Jacko Moya, was an American-born architect who lived and worked largely in England. Biography Born 5 May 1920 in Los Gatos, California, US, to an English mother and Mexican f ...

and Philip Powell, and built between 1965 and 1968, the quadrangle has been described by

Lord McIntosh of Haringey Andrew Robert McIntosh, Baron McIntosh of Haringey, PC (30 April 1933 – 27 August 2010) was a British Labour politician and last elected Principal of the Working Men's College. Personal life McIntosh was educated at Haberdasher Aske's Hamp ...

as "one of the best buildings of its kind during the expansion of higher education". Since 17 October 2006, the quadrangle has held the classification of being

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 ...

, due to the unique nature of its 1960s architecture. The quadrangle is primarily used to house Christ Church's first year undergraduates. It is located just to the south of the historic

Blue Boar Street Blue Boar Street is a narrow historic street running between St Aldate's to the west and the southern end of Alfred Street to the east, in central Oxford, England. It is located just north of Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church. At the weste ...

, off

St Aldate's St Aldate's () is a street in central Oxford, England, named after Saint Aldate, but formerly known as Fish Street. The street runs south from the generally acknowledged centre of Oxford at Carfax. The Town Hall, which includes the Museum o ...

, hence the name. Blue Boar underwent a substantial renovation from 2007 to 2008, resulting in the conversion of all rooms to modern en-suites.

Usage

The quadrangle, which consists of 75 student rooms, 9 small teaching rooms, and 1 senior member set, in

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, hosts mainly first years during term time and interviewees and conference guests during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

and Long Vacations. The accommodation consists of mostly medium-sized rooms with a desk, bed, fridge and window seat, with en-suite facilities. With the large double-glazed windows, the rooms are light.

Architecture

Blue Boar Quadrangle was built on the site of an old car park and garages, next to the narrow, high-walled

. The quadrangle was designed so that the top floor penthouses provide a broken, set-back series of horizontal planes that help to reduce the scale of the development seen from the street and is constructed almost entirely of characteristic

Portland Whitbed Portland Independent Top Whitbed is the variety of Portland stone used to build the Ashton Memorial in Lancaster. It originates from Independent quarries on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. See also *List of types of limestone This ...

and

Roach Stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

, which adds a unique quality absent from most 1960s developments. The quad itself is an 'L' shape, the rectangular nature being interrupted by the old college brewhouse. The staircases are of four storeys. Staircase four houses a seminar/break-out room and a lecture theatre. The quadrangle is accessed via a new (2007) route which leads from the path between Peckwater and Tom Quads behind Killcanon and brings you straight into the middle of the Blue Boar Quad. This is for students only, but is repeatedly defied by tourists in an attempt to see Oxford students in their 'natural habitat'. The quadrangle has been described as "One of the best buildings of its kind during the expansion of higher education" by

, Minister for Culture, Media and Sport. The quadrangle has held the classification of

Grade II* listed building 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 ...

since 17 October 2006, a status shared by only 20,000 other structures in the country due to the unique nature of its 1960s architecture.

References

External links

*{{National Heritage List for England, num=1408741, desc=Blue Boar Quadrangle, grade=II*, access-date=15 June 2015 University and college buildings completed in 1968 1968 establishments in the United Kingdom Christ Church, Oxford Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Parks and open spaces in Oxford Courtyards Grade II* listed buildings in Oxford