Rhodes Building at Oriel College, High Street

Cecil Rhodes had studied at Oriel college during his years at Oxford (1873-1881), and his old college was a massive beneficiary of his will.

Rhodes received a honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1892, but only attended the graduation ceremony in 1899 - at a time when he was becoming increasingly unpopular because of the conflict he had started in Southern Africa. Following the ceremony Rhodes had dinner at Oriel, where he learned about the deteriorating finances of the college.

Cecil Rhodes promised to leave £100,000 to Oriel College in his will, which he amended a few days after that event took place. Out of this sum, £10,000 were devoted to the fellows of Oriel, and especially high table. £40,000 went toward the construction of a new college building - a Rhodes building, fronting onto High Street. The remainder of the donation went towards general improvement works and fellowships. 

The building was completed eleven years after his death, in 1913, and was made possible through the destruction of medieval buildings. Rhodes' statue was designed by Henry Pegram, at the highest point on the façade, facing St Mary's University Church. The statue of Rhodes is surrounded by Solomonic columns, a direct mirror of the columns framing the entrance to the Church. Cecil Rhodes, in business attire and one foot out, as if on the go, looks down onto the main street of Oxford. Below him can be found representatives of the monarchy - King George V and King Edward VII - as well as representatives of the Church.

Controversies surrounding the building existed as early as the 1900s, but they came to focus more specifically on the Rhodes Statue in 2015 with the Rhodes Must Fall Campaign.

Read also on the Oxford and Empire website: The Rhodes Statue and the Rhodes Building

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