The Building of St Edward's School: A Chronology (1870 - 2020)

P AGE N O : 97 • Masters’ Common Room - the large lounge was originally the Changing Room (1909) by extending a Class Room northwards of the 1873 building. This became in 1920 the Day-Room ‘Canada’ when this was transferred from the room east of the Hall (this had become the Masters’ Dining Room was later absorbed into the extended Hall) • Music Practice Rooms - built to the South East of the Memorial Buildings in 1925, later demolished for the Tilly’s House extension in 1964 • New Buildings - originally built for the Headmaster in 1875 with a dining room (later converted studies) and a Common Room (later Macnamara’s Junior Day-Room). Housed the School Sanatorium on the Southern Site in 1887 on the Southern side. and on the upper floor The original Dining Room became the School’s first Laboratory • Pavilions - the first was built in 1875 , the second in 1880, the third in 1922 and the fourth in 1934 • Ranges - the first shooting ranges were built in 1905, one in the present Changing Room area on the North Wall Perimeter, the other near the Outdoor Swimming Pool • Sanatorium - the first was established in 1873 at Watcombe Cottage in the Banbury Road, opposite what is now the end of Oakthorpe Road (purchased by Simeon). The second was in ‘The Hollies’ 1875-1887, then on the top floors of the New Buildings. The first Isolation Annexe was put up in 1933 - later converted and the second (later the Junior Common Room) in 1937 • Science Laboratory - the first such facility constituted in the New Buildings on the ground floor on the south side in 1888 • Tilly’s House - in the Memorial Buildings from 1931 • The Workshops - The carpentry (handicrafts) workshop was originally the first School Shop on the School’s northern perimeter and in the present kitchen stores (built in 1874). It moved across across to the Maintenance Workshop in 1920 then returned to its original place in 1927. 1975 - Foundation Stone laid for the New Hall by Edward Evans O.S.E., President of the St. Edward’s Society. By the end of the Easter Term most of the brickwork laid - completion expected end October 1975 Plans for converting Big School into a new Library ‘are well advanced’ dependent on planning permission; work expected to begin in 1976. The costs are expected to be in the region of £35000 (£493,500 today) (General Purposes, November 1974). Also thoughts being given for turning the Memorial Library into an Art School (Winter 1975 Chronicle) The new ‘Assembly Hall and Theatre’ is opened by Sir John Thomson, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, on 25th October 1975. 1976 - The original Appeal for the present building costs, including the New Hall, is now oversubscribed and reaches £200,000 (£2,260,000 today) by mid 1976. The New Library in the converted Big School is opened by Sir John Betjeman, the Poet Laureate and School Governor, on 25 th November 1976 Future plans for building projects, once the Memorial Library conversion into an Art School has been completed, include a Sports Hall (cost £50,000 - £565,000 today), an all weather sports area and renovation of Boarding Houses - which might take place over a number of years dependent on budget (Governors’ Meeting, March 1976)