St John Street, Oxford

For other places with the same name, see St John Street.

St John Street is a street in central Oxford, England.^[1][2] The street mainly consists of Georgian-style stone-faced Grade II listed 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 (housing Oxford University's Department of Continuing Education) and near the southern end is the Sackler Library, which opened in 2001. To the south is Beaumont Street and to the north is Wellington Square. St John Street runs parallel with St Giles' (linked via Pusey Street) to the east and Walton Street to the west.

St John Street

Looking north along St John Street
Location within Oxford
Location	Oxford, England
Postal code	OX1
Coordinates	51°45′21″N 1°15′42″W

Note that part of Merton Street was once known as St John Street.^[1]

Notable residents

The Oxfordshire-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.^[3][4]

Other famous residents of St John Street have included the theologians Henry Chadwick and Arthur Peacocke; authors P. D. James, Iain Pears and J. R. R. Tolkien; and musician Thom Yorke. The moral philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe lived at no. 27 from 1946. It was in her study here that she worked on her translation of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, who also lived there towards the end of his life.

The curator of the Museum of the History of Science (in Broad Street, not far away), Kurt Josten, lived in rooms in St John Street.^[5]

The founders of the high IQ society Mensa International, Lancelot Ware and Roland Berrill, lived in rooms at 12 St John Street when they started the society in 1946.^{[6] [7]}

References

1. Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "St John Street". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. p. 402. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
2. "Virtual Tour of Oxford". Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
3. Warr, Elizabeth Jean (2011). The Oxford Plaque Guide. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 127–128. ISBN 978-0-7524-5687-4.
4. "William Turner 'of Oxford'(1789–1862), Artist, 16 St John Street, Oxford". Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
5. Lowe, Ian (12 July 1994). "Obituary: Kurt Josten". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
6. Ware, Lancelot (18 August 2000). "Obituary: Lancelot Ware". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
7. "It Began with a Train Ride". 1 October 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2018.

External links

• Summer Rain in St John Street, Oxford Daily Photo, 26 July 2007