Hertford College Oxford. Catte Street No.2

This street was recorded as Kattestreete in the early 13th century, as Mousecatcher's Lane in 1442, and as Cat Street in the 18th century. In the mid 19th century it was given the more respectable name of Catherine Street. As this name was also given later to a street in East Oxford the city council restored its original name, with its 15th century spelling, Catte Street in the 1930’s.
The Indian Institute was designed by Basil Champneys and was built with money raised by the Professor of Sanskrit, Monier-Williams. It has neo Jacobean oriel windows and a baroque domed turret. It is now the History Faculty although originally Indian civil servants were trained there and it also housed an Indian artefact museum.Hertford College was founded in 1740 on the site of Hart Hall, which was in turn founded in 1283 by Elias de Hertford, but was then sold in 1820 to the owners of Magdalen Hall. This ceased to exist in 1874 and Hertford College was revived, after a very substantial benefaction by Thomas Baring MP. The majority of the architecture now dates from the late-19th and early-20th centuries and is by Sir Thomas Jackson. North Quad was designed by Jackson with Tudor style gables and canted bay windows. It incorporates a small 16th century octagonal chapel originally known as the Chapel of Our Lady at Smith Gate. The pyramid shaped roof was added by Jackson.The ‘Bridge of Sighs’ across New College Lane which links the two parts of the college is based on the Ponte dei Sospiri in Venice and was built in 1913.The rebuilding in the 19th century began with the construction of the new hall over the entrance lodge between two existing classical 1820’s blocks.