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On Glory and Architecture

The Library Group of Buildings, Manor Road, Oxford, completed in 1964 for the University of Oxford, provide the city with its only recent university buildings of international calibre.

Designed by Sir Leslie Martin and Colin St John Wilson, the collection of three main building 'blocks' on pavilions bring together the library facilities for Law, English and the Institute of Statisticians.

The largest of the cluster of 'blocks', the Bodleian Law Library, housing 450,000 books for reference only, is the terminus for the visitor to the complex, ascending the grand exteriors staircase around which the three libraries are spatially composed.

The Manor Road Group offers an insight into not only the result of collaboration between two architects, but also presents an opportunity to study the architect's intentions when designing a library building.