Essay: Cabinet of curiousity

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CE7700: Major Essay Project Reconstructing historical subjectivities in 26-28 Cornmarket and 26 Ship Street, Oxford Arjun Chopra (1630285) 2-5-2017

Arjun Chopra, 1630285

Major Essay Project

ABSTRACT This essay analyses 26-28 Cornmarket, Oxford and buildings in its curtilage, a late 20th century reconstruction of a medieval timber building now occupied by a café franchise. It reflects on the nature of reconstruction and its conflation with personal experience. The essay itself attempts to embody the act of “reconstruction” through stories from the buildings past. The essay is divided into three parts. Part I is an “artefact”, a narrative description of experiencing an architectural marvel in its immediacy – in this case, visiting the building for a coffee. For part II, the narrative will be provided from various actors in the building’s history, regressing backward in time, until one reaches a stage when the building resembled completely that of its former state. Part III constitutes an analysis and reflection of the study.

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Major Essay Project

TIMELINE In order to attempt a subjective evocation of the building’s history that will be useful and accurate entails understanding the site in its social

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historical events, I have proceeded thus to “fragment” – the excerpt from a particular character would relate to a point in time, cutting a cross section across the table.

dimension and its relationship to a wider state of affairs. Reading through

Ultimately the essay attempts to chart a journey from curiosity to knowing.

the account of the building’s restoration by Architects FWB Charles (1988),

As the reader progresses through the narratives, information about the

as a technical report, one notes that there is understandable emphasis on

building is revealed through progressive disclosure. Once completing

the aesthetic and tectonic, but little of its former social setting. In Julian

them all, I would invite the reader to revisit Part I, the artefact/experience,

Munby’s (1993) extensive account of the history of the building, as a

and re-evaluate that description in light of new information learned. The

collection of essays from various authors, the information is fragmented

conclusion shall comment upon the nature of these narratives and their

and not related up to a wider context.

approach at reconstruction, their successes and failures, and also of the

Therefore, in order to tackle the problem of an accurate yet subjective evocation of history I have had to assemble a timeline of events, relating story of the building, along with its tenure, with that of the neighbourhood – the Cornmarket, region – Oxford, and national setting –England. Following this act of compiling, I have drawn links between each to establish causality along scales, which have been partially informed and partially imagination: this kind of semi-fictional historiography is comparable to Rem Koolhaas’ “Delirious New York” (1978), as a “retroactive manifesto” and follows a tradition of creatively examining history that dates back to the Frankfurt School. I would invite the reader to study the timeline, pictures and floor plan of the building before progressing with stories in Part II. For the latter, following the timeline as “bringing-together” of

significance of such an exercise to architectural discourse as a whole.

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PART I:

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framing method grants it openings of considerable size that give the building a surprising level of transparency. It is unlike other shops on the high street – like it has stories running through its beams, an artefact, and not just a facade.

It is 6pm and there is still daylight, albeit diffuse. There is a hanging sign above the door and a fascia running the length of a new ground floor timber extension, underneath which there sits an illuminated roundel, also seen on alternating windows across the first-floor gallery. All say “Pret a Manger”, translated as “Ready to Eat”.

At closer inspection the building’s precarious, looming relief becomes obvious. There is something animated about it, a dunk contrapposto, remaining elegant yet clinging to its neighbour for support, caught at a moment where it is mustering the energy to spring up and brave the cold oxford streets, upon its steed, out of the city.

A reconstruction of a medieval-style timber-framed building sits at the intersection between the Oxford Cornmarket and Ship Street. It seems to occupy three plots at once, 26-27 Cornmarket and 26 Ship Street, but not 28 Cornmarket. It is three storeys high with three gables facing the high street, jettying out dramatically each floor. It is archaic yet in remarkably good condition. The construction has certain honesty and clarity – its form takes reflects the material from which it was built. It sits at a corner, exposing two faces pierced by a variety of windows of myriad styles. The

Several juxtapositions arise from the presence of an international coffee franchise in a building of historic interest: firstly, one where corporate interest meets conservationist intent; secondly one of anachrony, as large modern window panes occupy quaint gothic tracery, a new extension juts from the ground floor of a fast-growing cheap variety of timber against traditional green-oak framing, cool straight lines of the new against the cleaved and wobbly old.

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Major Essay Project

Centre for Alternative Technology, Architecture AEES Prof. Dip.

The corporate and the conservationist: rather than become vexed by what

see the zone to the right, with higher ceilings allowed by two large gables.

could be seen as misappropriation of a precious building, one could be

Carry on down steps to the front of the building and become aware of its

somewhat pleased how it is being put to use. How such a franchise

slightly larger floor area, due to the front jetty. Take a seat at a cramped

secured planning for this remains a mystery. There is a surprising sensitivity

table in an overly-crowded room. Observe a light fitting and the way it drops

to how the café fits in the building, as if it could be lifted out in one piece. It

minimally from the plasterboard between two charred ceiling joists. Listen to

successfully asserts the café consumer experience and appreciation of the

the chatter of medical students, gossip from two old women nearby sharing

building’s history as mutually exclusive, yet is somehow still embedded.

an impassioned story and the pop music emanating from the vacant

Pass through the entrance towards the servery counter, notice such details as they pervade the building. A chiller cabinet fits neatly between a stone

earphones of the man reading a textbook to the left of me, furiously highlighting its pages. Sacrilege, to do that to an old book!

party wall and a soaring timber brace, an exhaust vent painted with white

Sip one’s coffee as it cools, hurriedly wipe the receipt of its circular stain, so

enamel, kinking respectfully around a ceiling joist, carefully scarfed with

as to retain a record of one’s visit, stare out of the array of windows

new timber and oak dowels, not a fixing in sight, metric tiling to the rear of

stretching the length of the room whilst rising to leave, through the

the counter culminating in a wiggly mastic line where it meets the stone

illuminated roundels onto a street now dark below. The temperature drops,

party wall.

emerging from the entrance, arranging one’s scarf, blowing into hands,

Place an order at the servery counter, stepping for a moment out of appreciating the building into the café experience, ordering a black coffee to drink inside, paying by contactless card, one is greeted with a receipt on a steel tray upon which sits a biscotti and steaming cup emblazoned with the name seen outside. Ready to Eat. Progress up a stairwell to a more private zone of the building, bathed in light from an octagonal top-light. Here it feels one has passed through the building and viewing it from the opposite side. Venture past the landing and

folding closed a sketchbook. The interior of the building shines out brightly, making the whole façade look skeletal, less massive, as if it were cut out of card for a diorama, enframing the activity within. Stand for a moment on the high street, shivering as one’s breath condenses in the cool night air. Turn to walk down the high street, braving the cold to find the car to continue the journey home. The receipt sits at the back page of the sketchbook.

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Major Essay Project

PART II: FREDDIE CHARLES

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Let us dwell upon some details of this building, and the important issues concerning the nature of architectural reconstruction to which they point.

We had to respect works already completed to conserving no. 28

One now stands in front of the building in 1987 with timber restoration

Cornmarket, which had been completed by Thomas Rayson from 1950-52.

architect of Worcestershire-based FWB architects. The building is nearing

The approach Rayson took was to internally support the existing building

practical completion and a lease has been sought by Laura Ashley for

with steels, preserving its characteristic “lean” onto the street, to which we

occupation. The project itself has amounted to half a million pounds, and

would have to remain faithful for the sake of architectural continuity, so the

rent has dramatically increased, thereby only being able to rent to

entire building therefore also leans. There is inherent within our efforts a

businesses with high enough earnings. As this is before the pedestrianizing

tension paramount to architectural conservation: evoking the historic form

of the high street in 2003, the road is littered with traffic.

as faithfully as possible, whilst designing in harmony with contemporary

“Here we are restoring nos. 26-27 Cornmarket. We have spent months in

surroundings.

the Bodleian Library poring over details captured in a building survey by

As can be seen there are two very different approaches, Rayson’s

JC Buckler in the 1860s, and we aim to be as faithful as possible to

flamboyant and ours more purist. Whilst Rayson inserted bay windows

original representations. Following in the closure of J. Zacharias’,

(partially as reinforcement to attic and gable) and decorated bargeboards

affectionately known as “Zac’s for Macs” which had been in business for

on his restoration, we maintained a gallery of windows along the first floor

over a century, we decided to take the opportunity to undertake a historical

as was originally depicted by Buckler, and plain bargeboards – we did not

survey of the building. A lot of independent businesses have been closing

provide embellishment for where we could not find evidence. One could

throughout the area following the rise of supermarkets and the economic

surmise that we valued documentation over evocation of history, in a

recession under Thatcher.

similar kind of subservience of form to tectonic in the medieval vernacular.

We felt a deep sense of duty to the wealth of documentation we found in

Note the addition of a substantial skylight to the rear stairwell. This has

the work of Buckler, for which the council seemed to agree, and funding

been included to evoke a sense of daylight into the building, as this would

was provided by English Heritage for the project to go ahead.

originally have been part of the rear inn courtyard. The skylight’s shape, an

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Major Essay Project

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octagonal prism, appears to be an aesthetic choice, though it is merely because the stairwell space is not perpendicular – defined by that of the courtyard, in respect to the diminishing shape of the plot, carved itself by the acutely angled intersection between the Ship Street and Cornmarket.

Inside, note the restoration of the timber gothic window frame overlooking the stairwell from the first floor of the building. We have chosen to leave saw marks on the timber, as a kind of expressionist evocation of the act of restoration. We have attempted to reclaim as much of the original timber joists as possible, using an array of scarf joints, as documented by Buckler, all held together with dowels and not a single screw. Overall, we saw this project as an important collaborative exercise between engineers, architects and carpenters – proving an important challenge to the industry of restoration and maintaining skills and knowledge of traditional craft throughout the modern age.”

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are works underway for Central and Counties bank. The new building

JOEL ZACHARIAS Before the restoration project, both plots 26-27 were occupied

by Zacharias and Co. The following excerpt is from shopowner Joel Zacharias circa. 1898, seven years before his death in 1905: “I am the son of Abraham Zacharias, a businessman of

looms over mine and now occupies what was an important walkway into the Blue Anchor Inn, still in operation, beside my shop. But one asks whether the inn will remain much longer anyway. We are at the cusp of an industrial revolution, and the inn has been dependent on travellers on horseback; the advent of the motorcar is making this type of service redundant.

Last registered use of the inn was recorded in 1906, and the stagecoach which ran from it, “The Oxford-Bath Machine”, departing Mondays at 7am, ended too.

Lithuanian descent, who was

But the new motoring industry is working in my favour: I have chosen to

involved with hardware,

adapt my business to the times. With recent advances in technology

silverwares, jewellery and even

concerning the manufacture of rubber, and the discovery of waterproofing

clockmaking before setting up

fabrics using linseed oil, I have branched out to selling Mackintoshes, but

shop here in 26 Cornmarket around 25 years ago. Since this time, we sold

those for the motoring public. As a motorcar or motorcycle is not readily

china and glassware on both floors, whilst the topmost floor was rented to

available to everyone yet, I am catering to a higher-class demographic and

students. At the moment, I occupy the ground floor of no. 26, selling china

bump-up my prices accordingly. This is appropriate for where I am located

and crockery on the top floor and waterproofs on the ground floor, but I

– the very fact that this was the site of a medieval shop implied the selling

have completed a purchase on no. 27, to double the width of my shop.

of higher-order goods. Otherwise traders would have a stall in the market

Jesus College has slowly come to acquire the entire complex along the north, south and high-street range. They have purchased this year the Anchor Inn to the rear of the site and 24-25 Cornmarket, for which there

place. It is not known what medieval trades were set up here but I’d imagine not something like a tannery, whose noxious smells would emanate to the rooms of the inn.

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Also, see how much of the original medieval Inn has been demolished to be replaced with this, fairly cosmetic brick building, now with a clean street line and no jetty. this must have happened sometime in the late eighteenth century, not long after the original was surveyed.

But alas my products! I sell fashionable oilskin capes and Sou’ Westers for men and women, motorcycling suits, but also waterproof covers for wagons and cars. For industry, I supply India rubber machine belting. I have continued the sales of china and glassware to honour my father’s legacy but the likelihood is that this

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productivity, and considered even a tool for women’s liberation.

Around this time, we see the emergence of the British tearoom, for women to gather in public places and discuss politics, in tandem to the movement for women’s suffrage.

My shop has acquired the name “Zac’s for Macs”. I intend to start a waterproofing revolution, operating from more premises. Much of my income is made at stalls I set up in fairs all over the country. I have recently sent products for exhibition at the Chicago World’s fair this year.

shall be phased out in favour of

In this day of advertising culture, I hang

waterproofing products, seeming

a banner from my window. Harvey’s at

as this is where my popularity lies.

no. 28 have rendered and sign-painted

The specialist china that I receive,

all over the sides of their grand corner

however, emblazoned with views

jetties. The electric light, introduced to

of oxford, are drawing customers

the UK in 1881, has meant that I can

in connection to the tea and coffee

extend opening hours longer into winter

dealers Messrs. Harvey and family

evenings, where my wares are

at no. 28, who have been

displayed gloriously in the appropriate

established here as long as my

manner of progress and industry.”

father. Their business is booming also as the west has discovered the value caffeine has to workers’

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ROBERT WHARTON

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“My name is Robert Wharton. My brother, Frederick, and I live above the shop that sells luxury Italian foodstuffs and exotic fruits. To this day, we remain bachelors due to the commitments to our trade. Living with us is a servant girl. Our neighbouring occupants and traders are Mr Henry Hatch the Draper, with his two children and a miller; at no. 27 Mr Couling the Tailor with his wife and two daughters.

I moved to Oxford from Henley-on-Thames with my brother in the 1820s where we started a stall selling exotic fruits and Italian foodstuffs on the market. The majority of our business came from the upper classes that could afford such luxuries and our income was assured. We made enough money to set up permanent shop in this prime location at the intersection between two main trade thoroughfares. This was much more favourable to our clientele. Since the dark ages the market has been the most direct and

Before Zacharias’ business, a long-standing fruiterer lived and worked at no. 26 by the name of Robert Wharton, whose occupation, from 1836-1852, preceded the demolition of the original medieval building. The following voice excerpt from Robert Wharton is in 1850. At this time, the building looks as it did originally, marked with five centuries of age. The complex is

primitive way of selling, but riddled with problems of thievery and deception. Moving into a permanent shop has allowed us some modicum of control over our environment and allowed us to purchase more valuable goods, such as pineapples from the Caribbean, which are highly coveted and fashionable for members of high society.

fully intact of its original form, a horseshoe-shape, with ranges extending

This timber building is nearing the end of its life but it is remarkable that it

across Ship Street and up to 24-25 Cornmarket, with a gallery and

has stood the test of time, and not burned down like the others. There is

functioning inn to the rear. Access to the inn can be gained to the right of

growing interest amongst the public in this building, clientele boast of its

no. 26.

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Major Essay Project

Centre for Alternative Technology, Architecture AEES Prof. Dip.

form being somewhat Ruskinian. I wonder if someone will come to survey

This is in contrast to the current reconstruction, where the ground floor is

this place before it crumbles?

almost entirely glazed to the high-street face, with a wide entrance door and

The Pre-Raphaelite school forms in 1849, a time of Romanticism, and in 1860, the building is surveyed by JC Buckler.

As you can see, this façade remains relatively unaltered. The gallery of windows on the first floor extends all the way across, making the gables look as if they float, and a bringing tremendous amount of light into the first floor displays for our shops. There is an open hall to the back of this building, traditionally for medieval merchants to entertain guests at the closure of a deal, a more private and personal part of the building.

disabled accessible ramp.

Customers would have to squeeze through this “coffin door” and only a few at a time, opening two sets of doors before reaching the vestibule of the shop. This would make it harder for thieves to exit. This, of course, is not apt for selling fruit as it needs high visibility to catch the eye of the passing client – for this I admit a market can be much more favourable.

But in the summer, it means that such goods are protected from spoiling in the heat and attracting flies. To account for this over-privacy, we frequently make use of the original medieval timber shutters, which are

This hall possibly constitutes the servery area of Pret a Manger, before the

hinged from the bottom and descend like a drawbridge, allowing for a

party wall and depicted as the “gallery” in Bucklers drawings.

table upon which our assistant sells fruit.

This building would have felt very different a hundred years ago when the

As I have travelled Europe I have linked with traders, one of whom supplies

street was narrower. In the absence of any ample sewage lines, one would

me with Chinese fish sauce, which can be combined with tomatoes to

have to be careful walking under the jetty for fear of waste water being

make a delightful savoury condiment called “ke-tsiap”, or “ketchup” which

poured on your head!

I think will be revolutionary to our fine cuisine.”

Wooden water pipes were laid in Cornmarket in 1695, and the street was widened in 1774, possibly due to the growing market.

Note the openings to the ground floor of my shop. They are quite small for reasons of security.

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MRS BENNETT

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the last registered innkeeper, Ralph Bennett has passed away leaving his widow, Mrs Bennett, a haggard old woman, in charge of the proceedings.

She meets a traveller along with a stable boy to collect their horse and speaks, the excerpt from which follows: “This is a fine example of a courtyard inn which dates to inception in 1346, with the purchase of the land by a man of the name John Gibbes. The inn has always been situated behind shops, meaning we can separate ourselves from the hustle and bustle of the high street and allow our guests a good night rest. We have a bar that stocks the finest ales – though not wine as we are not a tavern – and can offer a bed and breakfast service with the finest array of preserves and meats. We are expensive but generally cater to travellers of nobler class.

The establishment has gone through successive changes, christened as the “New Inn”, becoming “The Crown” and now “The Blue Anchor”. The whole complex used to be the inn but now the north range is under

Robert Wharton, the fruiterer, alongside the Draper and the Tailor were the earliest recorded occupants of the shops on Cornmarket by the 1841

separate ownership, being once a brewhouse and now Mr John Newman’s “Great Dancing School” for gentlemanly education.

census. To the right of Mr Wharton’s shop there is the sole entrance to the

Following Mrs Bennett’s death, the inn was divided and auctioned in 1775,

“The Blue Anchor”, a seven-foot gateway with hanging sign. As one

from which point onwards the shops to Cornmarket became separate

progresses through, past the threshold of the shop, they enter an internal

freeholds. John Newman’s dance school occupied the first floor of the

courtyard with the inn to the right, of similar style of medieval timber frame,

“north range”, the dining area to the right of the stairwell at Pret a Manger.

and stables to the left filled with oats and silage. The year is now 1770 and

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At this time, the room was floorboarded with two high gables added to the

I hear of the travels of Captain Cook and that he has reached Australia. I

roof for this purpose.

may be able to live long enough to see us exhibit items from the barrier

Business at inns have dwindled due to the proliferation of taverns, which many Oxford inns have become. These are the sites of drunken brawls and shady dealings, including prostitution, which is why people of the nobler classes find them unsafe.

The Oxford-Bath machine has always run outside this inn and it is tradition for passengers to receive a glass of port before they embark. We believe that these details of service contribute to an overall experience of stay that any guests should wish to replicate in the future.

This inn has historically been a source of entertainment to the public, an active participant in urban cultural life, of sometimes controversial and debaucherous nature. Though now not connected to our establishment, the dancing school provides such, having been party to a whole host of displays such as wire-walkers and performing horses, comic lectures and moving pictures, astronomical machines and even a horseless chariot!

Legend has it over a century ago, the scholars of Oxford put on a play to spite the prudish Presbyterians at St. Michael’s church. They still do not approve of us to this day. But I hear of plans that they are to demolish the church in order to widen the market road.

reef or the giant mammal they have discovered, the “Kongaroo”, upon his return.”

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PART III ARTEFACTS In the manner of a collector’s cabinet, one could extract objects or “artefacts” considered significant in every story, functioning as metonyms for particular periods of the buildings history. One could imagine these assembled as a Di Chirico painting – the drama of these objects interacting – as a foil to the contemporary experience of the building in its temporal cacophony.

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the essay had concentrated on progressively disclosing information in a more structured way, there may have been no need for narrative asides (shown in italic), but at the same time may have dissolved an intuitive and organic approach to researching history I was attempting to create.

It follows that the further back in time one travels, the harder it is to source reliable information, and gain a perspective on the kind of lives people actually led. But the study would have felt more complete if it had regressed back to the building’s inception.

For the Part I description – the cup of coffee;

This study could have gone into infinitely more depth – much time had to

For Part II –

be spent sequencing, understanding and internalising the buildings history

Freddie Charles – the architect – the gothic window, the skylight, or scarf

before being able to speak from a character’s perspective. There was also

joint;

conscious consideration as to how the text flowed as a piece of literature:

Joel Zacharias – the vendor – the Mackintosh, or china cup and saucer;

enough information needed to be provided for the reader to follow.

Robert Wharton – the fruiterer – the pineapple or the bottle of fish sauce; Mrs Bennett – the innkeeper – a tankard of ale or glass of sherry.

CRITIQUE As a comment upon the process of compiling such stories, once having saturated myself with the history of the building and wider events, I wrote drafts of the character excerpts which were more like improvised “rehearsals”. Each time I rewrote, something different would surface – the narratives thus seem unstructured and stream-of-consciousness in style. If

The exercise would have been conceptually more effective had the study considered an experience that was even less, if not completely, unremarkable – thereby giving the opportunity to realise something extraordinary in banal and transparent experience. The overtones of such an essay, finding apt correlate in the analysis of architecture, is to question everything – to not take any element for granted, for it is only the experience of complete wilderness that will constitute elements that have not been invented or discovered at some point in history.

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FURTHER STUDY The timeline and the story function as interesting counterparts, as integrated and fragmented pictures of the building’s history respectively.

What the study has missed, and I have not been able to provide due to constraints of time, would be a progression of floor plans of the building through history. As limited information is provided here, this exercise would be the chance precisely to extrapolate, in the same way that has been done in text-form with the above piece of writing. The floor plans could be extruded along the timeline as a continuous form, changing in configuration with each iteration. This could provide a form that functions as the basis for an architectural language that could be applied to a project.

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station, the shop is now a wholefoods warehouse run by climate refugees, or is the site of a “meat-free” butchers market?

RECONSTRUCTION As an attempt at “reconstruction”, one may evaluate the above texts as purist rather than evocative. In other words, more like FWB Charles than Thomas Rayson; insofar as it has remained as true to fact as possible, embellishment provided only when creatively informed. A “Raysonian” textual reconstruction may have been one that created its own universe through blending of causality and time, with dramatic events happening improbably close, a more entertaining read. It may have paid closer attention to the subject, their voice and feelings, with a certain looseness of hard factual information. Interestingly, this may have granted such texts

Another possibility would have been to populate the existing floorplans

more realism – it is unlikely that Mrs Bennett would have been able to

with “life” – furniture and people: for instance, Zacharias may have had a

speak so eloquently about exact dates of tenure, for instance.

store room for Oilskin Mackintoshes; Wharton’s shop displays may have been divided to his exotic fruits, condiments and Italian food from the same building; The inn may have had an area for the salting and curing of meats etc.

A further, more focused research question that may spring from this study is evaluating various approaches to reconstruction. Should one remain purist? Or is there value to treating history with greater evocation and looseness? Another question may examine significance of the term

A useful exercise would have been to extrapolate a story into the future of

“reconstruction”. This is a word that transcends architecture into many

the shop’s use. What if, in the year 2030, a micro-tram is installed down

other discourses and media. As postmodern and postcolonial literature

the length of the Cornmarket and the building’s awning extends out into a

has told us that history has been a series of stories from narrators we cannot always trust – painted to uphold the victor, maybe the

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contemporary task is to re-evaluate such, to understand the contribution that the historically oppressed have made, and so “reconstruction” is what follows the late postmodern paradigm of “deconstruction”.

CONCLUSION This essay has proven an opportunity to study in-depth a particular place, which has then been used as a springboard to explore larger discourse, 26-28 Cornmarket has become a microcosm. It has proven that there is value to looking deeply into an otherwise transparent, common experience, and realising the extraordinary process of history that has facilitated its taking-place.

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Major Essay Project

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Major Essay Project

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Anon, (2017). [image] Available at: http://combiboilersleeds.com/keywords/cigar1.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Keyword Suggestions (2017). Navy Tweed Suit. [image] Available at: http://www.keyword-suggestions.com/bmF2eSB0d2VlZCBzdWl0/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Pret.co.uk. (2017). Organic Coffee, Natural Food, Logo. [online] Available at: https://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Centre for Alternative Technology, Architecture AEES Prof. Dip.

Marks & Spencer. (2017). Leather Layered Sole Brogue Shoes | M&S. [online] Available at: http://www.marksandspencer.com/leather-layered-sole-brogueshoes/p/p22443810?&pdpredirect [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Old camera-whole.jpg. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_camera-whole.jpg [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Chocolatebuttons.co.uk. (2017). Mini Purple Fruit Bonbons Wrapped - Boiled Sweets Wrapped - Boiled Sweets - Sweet Shop. [online] Available at: http://www.chocolatebuttons.co.uk/review/product/list/id/10599/category/7/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Devanayagi, S. (2017). Silk Material with Tantric-goddess Shopping Mall. [online] Tantric-goddess.org. Available at: http://www.tantricgoddess.org/silk_material.htm [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Firehosesupply.com. (2017). Used Fire Hose | Used Fire Hoses | Used Fire Hoses for Sale | Getting value out of an Old Fire Hose. [online] Available at: https://www.firehosesupply.com/blogs/international-fire-equipmentnews/6857706-getting-value-out-of-an-old-fire-hose [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

CreoGlass | Kitchen Glass Splashbacks & Worktops. (2017). Black Friday 2015 CreoGlass | Kitchen Glass Splashbacks & Worktops. [online] Available at: https://www.creoglass.co.uk/black-friday-2015-2/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Redboatfishsauce.com. (2017). Purchase Red Boat Fish Sauce First Press Extra Virgin. [online] Available at: http://redboatfishsauce.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id

Amazon.co.uk. (2017). One Piece Luffy Kids Straw Hat: Amazon.co.uk: Toys & Games. [online] Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Piece-Luffy-KidsStraw/dp/B00DQNG68S [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Nazeing-glass.com. (2017). Cut crystal glassware from Nazeing Glass. [online] Available at: http://www.nazeing-glass.com/shop/cut-crystal-wine-glasses.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Pinterest. (2017). Eski Matbaalar. [online] Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pupaprinthouse/eski-matbaalar/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Cafelegi.wordpress.com. (2017). Loose Tea | Tea Love. [online] Available at: https://cafelegi.wordpress.com/tag/loose-tea/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Sell My Mobile Blog. (2017). It’s time to sell that old mobile: there really is no excuse - Sell My Mobile Blog. [online] Available at: http://www.sellmymobile.com/blog/it%E2%80%99s-time-to-sell-that-old-mobilethere-really-is-no-excuse/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Prince, R. (2017). Tried and tested: an artisan tea. [online] Telegraph.co.uk.

Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinkadvice/8243956/Tried-andtested-an-artisan-tea.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

BeerSmith™ Home Brewing Blog. (2017). Brown Ale Recipes: Brewing Styles. [online] Available at: http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/07/09/brown-ale-recipesbrewing-styles/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Exotic Fruit Box. (2017). Buy papayas: Exotic Fruit directly from our Farm. [online] Available at: http://exoticfruitbox.com/en/tropical-fruits/papaya-fruit/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

Structural information for 1985/7 reconstruction (Charles, 1988, p.55)

Sketch of scarf joists used in construction: Blue denotes old timbers and red for new

(Charles, 1988, pp.16-18)

This building probably dates from the fifteenth century, and was altered in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. It was extensively restored by its owner, Jesus College, in 1986–7, and is Grade II listed.

In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. According to Salter, 26 Cornmarket was then in the occupation of Mr Wootten and No. 27 of Mr Townsend, and each had a frontage of exactly 4 yards.

Abraham Zacharias, a silversmith, jeweller, and watch & clock maker at 2 Cornmarket in the 1850s, set up his son Joel in business here at No. 27 in the 1870s as a china and glass dealer. In the late 1880s the business expanded into No. 26, and started selling waterproof clothing, and by about 1896 stopped selling china and glass altogether. When Joel Zacharias died in 1905, the business was taken over by Henry Osborn King of Wolvercote, who was succeeded by his son Cecil. The business closed in 1983.

The premises were restored in 1986 by the owners, Jesus College.

In the Censuses 1841 No. 26: Living over the shop are Robert Wharton (30), a fruiterer, and Frederick Wharton (25), an assistant fruiterer. They have one female servant.

No. 27: Robert Couling (45), a tailor, is living here with Elizabeth (40), Charlotte (20), Harriet (12) and Elizabeth (10).

1851 No. 26: The two bachelor brothers, Robert Wharton (47), the fruiterer, and Frederick (37), the assistant fruiterer, who who were born in Henley-on-Thames, are still living here. They have one female servant.

No. 27: Robert Couling (55), is still listed here as a tailor, with his wife Elizabeth (53) who is listed as a shopkeeper, and his daughters Elizabeth (20), and Harriet (22), who are respectively described as a mantua maker, and dressmaker.

1861 No. 26: Frederick Wharton (45), still unmarried and described as the brother of the head of the household and a fruiterer’s shopman, was at the house on census night with their housekeeper, a widow of 58.

No. 27: Robert Couling (65) is still living over the shop with his wife Elizabeth (64) and his nephew Henry Faulkner (17), who is described as a tailor’s assistant.

1881 No. 26: Maryanne Wharton (4), described as a widow and a fruiterer, is living here with her son Robert Wharton (19) and one general servant.

No. 27: Listed as uninhabited. Joel Zacharias (29) was living with his parents at 1A Cornmarket.

Timeline of tenency and occupation of building (Jenkins, 2017)

Sketch of architectural details to front elevation

Above: Dividing the facade

(Turner & Vaisey, 1972, p.45)

Above: Initial sketch of building

(Turner & Vaisey, 1972, p.)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.268/9)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.270)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.273/4)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.274)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.275/6)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.277)

Left: Gallery timber details after Buckler (Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.279) Above: South range sectional elevation after 1904 demolition (Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.280)

(Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.283/5)

Above: Details of scarf jointing for 1985-7 restoration (Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.289) Right: Conclusions to project report by FWB Charles (Charles, 1988, p.72)

Above: Rayson’s approach to building restoration at 28 Cornmarket ( Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.256) Left: An historical definition of an inn (Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.300)

Account of visit to inn in 1401 ( Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.306)

Brainstorm of building uses

Image of front of shop before occupation of Pret a Manger: area was used as a shoe display for “Sole“ (2007) (reference data provided in block above)

Left above and below: Floor plans used from planning drawings for Pret a Manger (source information provided in title blocks) Above: Receipt of transaction

Left: “Sectioning an elevation“ - divisions between

floors and rooms all with separate windows of life

throughout history - exploring interplay between

outside and inside Above: Pattern of reevaluating one’s experience of an

architecture in light of new information.

Inventory of Thomas Aldridge, owner of the Blue Anchor ( Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.305)

Description of original inn ( Munby, J. et al., 1993, p.307)

The protagonist of the story “Araby” by James Joyce, in “Dubliners” has a moment of epiphany at the Araby bazaar.

James Joyce effectively captures a “section” of the city using stories of individual characters, who all interact with real parts of Dublin, and all of whom come to a moment of realisation at the end of their respective narratives. Note that the flyer to the left is a real piece of printed ephemera advertising the bazaar. The map on the far left describes the boy’s route on the train across the river and the drawing below attempts to capture this moment.

http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/cornmarket/east/26_27.html

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ARCHITECTURE AS SITE OF EXCHANGE The building could be visualised as a heart with its various chambers. The weather is cold outside; I enter in a low energy, deoxygenised state - shown by the blue route (vein). My payment is processed at the counter and the coffee is prepared. I venture up the stairs with a steaming coffee to an upper chamber where I consume it, and thaw. In the manner of a platelet being oxygenated I am satiated and reenergised by the heat of the product and environment (and caffeine!) Exiting the building, my trail is an artery, being effectively “pumped” out.

Original boundaries Entering Exiting Served (customer) visible space Served (customer) invisible space Service (staff) visible space

Note that in the case of this building, the “exchange” takes myriad forms: (1) economic: transaction being made (2) cultural-historical: a sense of enrichment from experiencing a restored building (3) social: a place to converse (4) physiological - a place to rest, a warm drink The inverse operation could be visualised: rather than the building as a heart it is a muscle, functioning on the energy of people coming and going. I therefore enter the building in a high energy state divest such in its internal environment, then leave in a low energy state.

Service (staff) invisible space

Where I sat to have my coffee. There is a renewed connectedness with the street, after having passed through the building’s successive thresholds, being brought away from the street and back again, as if having travelled back in time, looking through a window at the present, seeing it juxtaposed.

ANACHRONY “Drinking a coffee made 5 minutes ago, in a shop that has been here for 7 years, looking out onto a high street pedestrianised 14 years ago, in a building restored 32 years ago, using timbers and forms that are over 700 years old.”

26 Ship Street first floor

27 Cornmarket first floor shop (B2)

26 Cornmarket ground floor shop (C2) Gallery Stairwell

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Most connected to street

Least connected to street

Basement service space: accessible to staff only

Sheltered entrance underneath jetty: completely publically accessible - can be used as a meeting point. Could symbolically represent the charitable service that the shop provides for the public

Publically accessible but can only use if payment has been made in shop. After products are consumed, “rent” to the table is expired

Accessible WC: tend only to use if (1) disabled and (2) if payment has been made in shop

26 Ship Street ground floor

Jetty

Seating area is provided here for customers to maintain a closer connection with outside high street and for a quick exit.

The nature of this space is such that it is displaced from the “consuming” zone, and occupies somewhere physically and psychologically in-between. This is further enhanced by the liminality of its enclosure a timber extension juts around three feet into the high street with considerable glazing - simultaneously between street and shop, inside and outside, coming and going, consuming and shopping. Here there is less overlooking from staff, the “rent” for a table one pays with a consumable may be overdue. A man stands pacing on the phone with an empty coffee in-hand.

Access upstairs - much harder to infiltrate as a member of public if consumable has not been purchased

Publically accessible: as space before servery till. Consumables are on display in refrigeration units.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

Servery - highly visible but accessible to staff only. Separation between public and staff provided by a counter. Point of exchange

27 Cornmarket ground floor shop (B1)

26 Cornmarket ground floor shop (C1)

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

Former gallery to rear of 26 Cornmarket possibly part of original Inn

Stairwell (formerly shop facing into courtyard of Blue Anchor Inn in 1900s)

Stone party wall that may have proceeded the Inn - originally had chimney breasts but removed during reconstruction works

General British History (Bbc.co.uk, 2017)

1200

1300

Building maintains use as an Inn.

Second Floor Tenancy (3) (Jenkins, 2017)

Ground and First Floor Tenancy (1, 2) (Jenkins, 2017)

No. 27 (B3)

No. 26 (C3)

1600

(1536) Dr John Claymond had a lead roof supported on stone pillars erected in the middle of the street so that “thereby in wet seasons sacks of corne might be preserved from the violence of the weather”. Henceforth Northgate Street was known Early 17th Century painting discovered in 1985 restoration. as Cornmarket (1644) The roof of the corn market was demolished to provide lead for bullets during the civil war

1700

(1695) Wooden water pipes were laid in Cornmarket

1800

(1832) Arrival of Queen Victoria

(1771) North Gate and Bocardo Prison demolished (1774) Cornmarket was widened (1810) Last use of pillory and whipping post in centre of Cornmarket opposite Frewin Court (1822) The City Church of St Martin’s on the south-west corner rebuilt

(1775) Inn auctioned and property divided into separate freeholds. The anchor still survived at the rear (1782) Demise of the dancing school on north range facing ship street

(1764) Oxford and Bath machine (stagecoach) advertised to be leaving the premises at 7 .(1784) Became a place of display - airballoon made by Montgolfier, and “Natural Curiosities from Botany Bay” exhibited” - provincial inns were known to provide public entertainments

(1676) Area on north range of medieval inn, formerly known as the brewhouse, purchased by John Newman and turned into a dancing school after the restoration. Newman floors over attic and adds gabled dormer windows on ship street elevation.

1660 the young scholars of oxford hold a play against S. Michael’s church to spite the Presbyterians. The “Great Dancing School” is a “...cynosure for popular entertainments: wire walkers, tumlers, performing horses, comic lectures took their place alongside artificiaol flowers, brids’ eggs, bees mechanical devices and astronomical machines, moving pictures and a horseless chariot.” (Munby, et al., 1992, p.253)

Retailers lived above their respective shops

1840 Henry Hatch - Draper (22), Sarah Hatch (2), Henry Hatch (1). A miller and one female servant (1844) A railway is built from Oxford to London (1845) Irish potato famine (1846) Prime Minister Robert Peele resigns after corn laws repealed (1849) Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood forms

1840-2020

(1859) Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species is published (1861) Post Office savings scheme for ordinary people introduced

Train route enabling traders to move to Oxford from in and around London

1850 Nicholas Sweetman - linen draper born in Reading (37), wife Mary Ann (26), one assistant and one apprentice.

(1854) Crimean War, Britain and France declare war on Russia

Robert Couling - tailor (45), wife Elizabeth (40), Charlotte (20), Harriet (12), Elizabeth (10).

Robert Couling - tailor (55), Elizabeth shopkeeper (53), daughters: Elizabeth mantua maker (20), Harriet dressmaker(22)

Bachelor brothers born in Henley-on-Thames: Robert Wharton fruiterer (30), Frederick Wharton - assistant fruiterer (25), one female servant.

Robert Wharton - fruiterer (47), Frederick assistant fruiterer (37), one female servant.

(1860) The Natural History Museum opens

1860

(1860s) Full drawing study conducted by JC Buckler of the original building, proving invaluable for 1985 restoration

Fascination with natural history

(1863) Star Inn acquired by the Clarendon Hotel Company and renamed the Clarendon Hotel.

(1864) Large new premises for the grocer Grimbly Hughes were built at 56 Cornmarket

Three young drapers’ assistants:John Law (18), Ellen Percy (20), and Sarah Rose (17). One female house servant (23).

Robert Couling (65), Elizabeth (64), nephew Henry Faulkner - tailors assistant (17)

Major source of reference and inspiration for reconstruction

(1880) Education becomes compulsary for children aged under 10 (1881) Introduction of the electric light

Miss A. Dobney, Linen draper (directory from 1846)

William John Biggs, Draper, mercer, & hosier (directory from 1867)

1870 New trade routes enabling exotic products from North Africa and the Middle East to be sold, growing fascination with the East

Lewis Solomon,Jeweller & tobacconist, and fancy bazaar (also at 29 and 39 Cornmarket) (directory from 1872)

1880

(1883) Married women obtain right to acquire their own property

(1882) Tram-route to North Oxford laid from Carfax through Cornmarket

(1889) New Local Government Authorities take up duties

(1896) City Church of St Martin demolished except for its tower (1896/7) Metropolitan Bank Ltd (later Midland/HSBC) built at SW end of Cornmarket

1890

(1884) Jesus College purchases no. 26 Cornmarket

Edwin J. Harvey, tea dealer (employing “two hands”) (30), wife Charlotte (29), daughter Mary (1), one general servant.

Uninhabited: Joel Zacharias (29) was living with his parents at 1A Cornmarket.

(1901) Birth of the Labour party

(1908) Olympic Games open at White City, London (1911) National Insurance Act

1910

(1910) The first cinema in Oxford opens

Tenure of building in 1878 (Munby, J. et al., 1993)

John Piper The Oxford Ale Stores (directory from 1867) Abraham Zacharias China and glass warehouse (directory from 1872)

Dealer in British wines, Italian oil and fish sauce

Joel Zacharias Glass and china depôt (directory from 1880)

Maryanne Wharton - widow and fruiterer (40), son Robert Wharton (19), one general servant.

26 & 27: J. Zacharias & Co., Waterproof clothing manufacturers (1890) 27: Joel Zacharias, China & glass dealer (1890)

(1898) Joel Zachariass sends a display to the Chicago World Fair

(1905) Death of Joel Zacharias, business succeeded by Henry Osborn King of Wolvercote - a close family friend, broadening scope of business to manufactoring waterproofs for the motoring public.

(1906) Building last registered as an Inn “The Blue Anchor”

(1898) Nos. 24-25 Cornmarket, rebuilt in early 18th or 19th century with new bay windows, purchased by Jesus College. In 1904 rebuilt as Capital and Counties Bank today now a fast food restaurant

Zacharias & Co., waterproof clothing manufacturers (1900s)

(1904-11) Demolitions undertaken for new building of Jesus College

(1913) Morris begins making cars in Oxford

(1914) Beginning of The Great War

Sketch of building in 1821 (Munby, J. et al., 1993)

Harvey Brothers, Tea and coffee dealers (directory from 1880-1914)

(1900) White Hart Inn at No. 21 replaced by a hotel and restaurant (1901) Lloyds Bank built on the south-east corner of Carfax

PART II: INTERVIEW WITH JOEL ZACHARIAS

Italian, foreign fruit and fish sauce warehouse

Confectioner (directory from 1846)

(1892)The first electricity generating station in Oxford opens

1900

Robert Wharton Foreign Fruit & Italian Warehouse (1839-1852)

Robert Couling Tailor & Confectioner (1839–1842)

Frederick Wharton (45), still unmarried and described as the brother of the head of the household and a fruiterer’s shopman, was at the house on census night with their housekeeper, a widow of 58.

(1869) Opening of the Suez Canal (1870) Women obtain limited rights to retain property after marriage

Henry Hatch, Draper & silk merchant (directory from 1839)

Sweetman and Co. Draper & and Straw hat warehouse(directory from 1852)

Romanticism and fascination with the Medieval

(1867) Second reform act doubles electorate

The industrial revolution is a momentous period that pervades the timeline in the late 18th and early 19th century. For instance it can be seen that the first electric light is installed in a UK home in 1881, and an electricty generating station opens in Oxford ten years later.

We witness the growth of the Urban Proletariat and the formation of the Labour party in 1901 on socialist ideals. Above all, during this time comes the invention of the motorcar and its availability for the masses. This prompts two changes in the building for better or worse:

No. 26 (C1, C2)

1900

(1842) Introduction of income tax

Note 1869 marks the opening of the Suez canal, enabling greater trade between countries from the east and west. In 1872, Lewis Solomon opens a bazaar at no. 28 Cornmarket as one of three units, selling also jewellery and tobacco. Robert Wharton of no.

26 Cornmarket, selling italian goods and exotic fruits, broadens his range to include fish sauce - an oriental import. This growing fascination with the East may be a symptom of such an event.

No. 27 (B1, B2)

(1386-96) Properties purchased by John Gibbes on a century lease; Creation of the “New Inn”: beomes “The Crown” and then “The Blue Anchor”, surviving to around 1906. (1415) Records exist of a contemporary visit to an oxford inn

1400

PART II: INTERVIEW WITH MRS BENNETT

PART II: INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT WHARTON

No. 28 (A1, A2)

(13th Century) Northern part of property (possibly 26-28 Cornmarket) house of John (1255) Northgate Street (later Cornmarket) already Ailnoth marks the east–west divide of the four city wards (1260)Record of skinners’ quarter on the site of the Golden Cross

1500

1200-1900

Here the life of the shop is shown in tandem with its tenency on its upper floors, moments from the buildings history of tenure and construction, history of its neighbourhood (i.e. the Cornmarket), its city (Oxford), and national scale events.

Firstly, Joel Zacharias, the businessman who had taken over his father’s bespoke china and crockery business at 26 Cornmarket decides to expand his trade to include outdoor clothing in around 1890. As can be seen from the advertisement in “Oxford Shops and Shopping“ by Turner and Vaisey (1972, p. 101) the company begins to target the motoring public in their advertisements.

Following this his business seemed to boom as Munby notes that he seemed to have a stall at every fair in the country, and even exhibited his wares at the Chicago World Fair. It can be surmised that the collection of buildings, following the association with the Medieval Inn - being traditionally a high-class service - would be retailing higher-order goods, so to target a richer demographic that could afford a motorcar at the time would seem fitting. (Munby, et al., 1992, p. 45)

Building History

(Munby, et al., 1992, pp. 255-266)

No. 28 (A3)

TIMELINE An infinite number of causal sequences can be placed in parallel through a singular dimension of time, of varying scales, from the local to the global. Then one can take a “section“ through a “moment“ and discern hitherto unseen connections between simultaneous events.

We may speculate that the publishing of Charles’ Darwin’s “Origin of Species“ in 1859, of momentous importance in the West to both science and religion, effected national interest in natural history. In 1860 Oxford witnesess the opening of its own museum along with that in London. In this decade JC Buckler produces a full drawing survey of the existing medieval timber building at Cornmarket, stored in the Bodleian Library, an important document for its reconstruction in the late 20th Century. It may not be erroneous to assume that Darwin’s book catalysed museum culture, and consequent archeological interest. With the forming of the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood 20 years prior (1849), we know that this period followed a period of Romanticism in the footsteps of John Ruskin, which fixated on the Medieval, reinforcing such interest on the building.

Oxford and Cornmarket History

(Lewis, 2017) (Jenkins, 2017)

Joel Zacharias simultaneously runs two businesses - waterproofs, and china/glassware. For a while he sold waterproofs on the ground floor and china/glassware on the first, and had larger windows installed on the first floor to display them. With the advent of the motorcar the business decides to concentrate solely on waterproofs.

Invention of the motorcar and changing demographic of Zacharias’ business

(1916) Conscription introduced to Great Britain

Harvey’s tea blenders and Zacharias’ shop c.1885 (Munby, J. et al., 1993)

(1918) End of The Great War (1920) Women at Oxford allowed to receive degrees (1921) Unemployment at post-war high of 2.5 million

1920 Suffrage and rights of women bearing connection to tea rooms

(1926) Miners strike (1928) First “talkie” film shown in Britain (1929) Wall Street Crash

Secondly the closure of the inn, which had been operating for over half a century. The typology of the inn was such that it was a stopover for travellers on horseback, and point of departure for the Oxford-Bath stagecoach. The motorcar changed this relationship and made such a typology redundant. Along with this, a whole culture of entertainment that an Inn would provide, including recitals and plays, was lost. Jesus college slowly came to acquire the whole site.

Curry’s Cycle Co Ltd and Miss Tothill-Fleming, Tea rooms (directory from 1921)

(1924) The Museum of the History of Science opens Woolworth’s took over the old Roebuck Hotel, demolishing the original building at No. 8 1930

(1935) First Penguin affordable paperbacks become available

(1936) Austin Reed gents’ outfitters opened in No. 38; closed 2016

(1935) Jesus College purchases no. 27 Cornmarket

Following Jesus College purchasing most of the site, the upper floors may have been used as student accommodation

(1938) Oxford airport opens (1939) Britain declares war on Germany (1940) Battle of Britain begins: Blitzkreig

Penrose & Palmer, Photographers and Ye old North Gate Tea Rooms (Misses R. E. & M. J. Carter) (1928-1932)

1940

Speedwell Cleaning Co., Dyers & cleaners (1935–1976)

Ground and first floor plan c.1900 (Munby, J. et al., 1993)

(1945) End of WW2 (1947) Coal industry nationalised (1948) Birth of the National Health Service Olympic Games held at Wembley Stadium (1951) Festival of Britain

1950 (1952) Restoration of No. 28 by Thomas Rayson - Grade II listing. The restoration is flamboyant, with decorated bargeboards and two new bay windows that help further support the attic floor and gables. This, however, is an embellishment upon what was existing - the original design was deemed to have a gallery of windows running along the entirety of the west-facing high-steet facade. The restoration used steels to support the building internally rather than rebuilding any timber work. The building thus retains its lean over the high street. (Munby, et al., 1992, p.256)

(1954/5) Old Clarendon Hotel demolished to make way for a new Woolworth’s and Clarendon House (1955) Rubber surface laid on road proved to be too dangerous in wet weather and was removed

(1955) Beginning of Commercial Television

1960 (1963) Grimbly Hughes replaced by Littlewoods Marks & Spencer rebuiilt the store they had occupied since the 1930s

(1963) New universities open and students get state support (1964) Abolition of resale price maintenence, prompts rise in supermarkets (1965) Comprehensive education system initiated

(1971) Decimalised currency replaces pounds, shillings and pence

(1965) Cowley Shopping Centre is completed

1970

(1972) Westgate Shopping Centre opens (1973) The pavements were widened, the kerbs were removed, and Cornmarket was closed to all vehicles except buses, taxis, and vehicles requiring access (1975) The Museum of Oxford opens

(1976) Britain borrows from the IMF (1978) Strikes and the “Winter of Discontent” (1979) Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister

Cornmarket street frontage just before restoration, with larger display windows fitted for Zacharias’ shop c.1952 (Charles, 1988, p.72)

(1970) Queen Street is pedestrianized

1980

(1982) Economic recession (1983) Woolworth’s closed, and the present Clarendon Centre was created

Economic recession and closure of independent businesses, including Zacharias’ store -“Zacs for Macs”

(1986) Major national industries privatised PART II: INTERVIEW WITH FREDDIE CHARLES (1989) Invention of the world wide web

1990

(1986/7) Golden Cross closed, and Golden Cross Way was created, with 13 new shops, a restaurant, and a bar.

(1992) Opening of the Channel Tunnel

(2000) Dotcom bubble prompts collapse of global stockmarkets

2000

(1987) Work completed in 18 months on 500k contract. Laura Ashley occupies building, as they can afford the rent increase. Building leans into the street having to follow the line set by Rayson’s restoration on No. 28

(1985) Planning permission and listed building consent obtained for three study rooms for Jesus college to be built above the shops inside gables. Architect Freddie Charles proposes to “repair and restore in oak using traditional timber framing methods with joints, scafs and pegs.” Remarked that he intends to “drive a coach and horses through the scheme”. The apporach is overall purist - no embellishment has been provided where there is little data to support it. Work commences (Munby, et al., 1992, p.255).

(1983) Closure of Zacharias’s on nos. 26-27 Cornmarket “...after being in business for over a century” (Munby, et al., 1992, p.1) .

“Zacharias Report” produced on building by Julian Munby and David Sturdy. Jesus college obtains the surrendered lease.

Only chain stores can afford the rent of the building post-reconstruction Laura Ashley (1987)

Image of front of shop before occupation of Pret a Manger: area was used as a shoe display for “Sole“ (2007)

(1999) Cornmarket Street fully pedestrianised following removal of all buses (2002) Radio listeners vote Cornmarket Street to be Britain's second-worst street. In 2003, it is repaved and new benches installed, amid reports of budgetary problems.

2010

(2011) The population of Oxford 149,000

Mobile Phones Direct (2008-2010)

Sole Shoes (2007) Pret A Manger (2008 to present)

Chequepoint (2011 to present)

PART I: VISIT TO PRET A MANGER COFFEE SHOP 2020

Bbc.co.uk. (2017). BBC - History - British History in depth: British History Timeline. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/timelines/british/index_embed.shtml [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017].

Jenkins, S. (2017). Cornmarket timeline, Oxford. [online] Oxfordhistory.org.uk. Available at: http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/cornmarket/history/timeline.html [Accessed 27 Apr. 2017].

Lambert, T. (2017). A Timeline of Oxford. [online] Localhistories.org. Available at: http://www.localhistories.org/oxfordtime.html [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017].

Lewis, D. (2017). Oxford Timeline. [online] Timetravel-britain.com. Available at: http://www.timetravelbritain.com/articles/towns/oxtime.shtml [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017].

Munby, J., Ashdown, J., Durham, B., Haddon-Reece, D., Henig, M., & Jeuckens, C. (1992). Zacharias's: a 14thcentury Oxford New Inn and the origins of the medieval urban inn. (J. Munby, Ed.) pp. 255-266

Image of shop frontage (author’s own, 2017)