Inauguration of the Rhodes Building, 1911

Designed by Basil Champneys (1842-1935), architect of such obviously progressive projects as the women’s colleges Newnham (in Cambridge) and Lady Margaret Hall (in North Oxford), the Rhodes Building was a fashionable piece of what was then called ‘Free Renaissance’ architecture. It combined elements of design from across the centuries, and its purpose was almost as complex as its origins. It celebrated the College and the College’s benefactors. It commemorated the monarchy and the two kings, Edward VII and George V, who had reigned as it was built. Above all, it was a monument to Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), the imperialist and businessman, whose intensely controversial exploitation of southern Africa made the building unpopular from its opening onwards. Twenty years later, many argued that it was so ugly it should simply be blown up: ‘a very small expenditure on dynamite’, Evelyn Waugh wrote in 1930, ‘should be enough to rid us forever.’

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