Radcliffe Camera

The Radcliffe Camera is a building of the University of Oxford, England, designed by James Gibbs in a Baroque style and built in 1737–49 to house the Radcliffe Science Library. It is sited to the south of the Old Bodleian, north of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, and between Brasenose College to the west and All Souls College to the east. The Radcliffe Camera's circularity, its position in the heart of Oxford, and its separation from other buildings make it the focal point of the University of Oxford, and as such it is almost always included in shorthand visual representations of the university. The Radcliffe Camera is not open to the public.
The library's construction and maintenance was funded from the estate of John Radcliffe, a physician who left £40,000 upon his death in 1714. According to the terms of his will, construction only began in 1737, although the intervening period saw the complex purchase of the site. The exterior was complete in 1747 and the interior finished by 1748, although the library's opening was delayed until 13 April 1749.
Upon its completion, Francis Wise was appointed as its first librarian. Until 1810, the library housed books covering a wide range of subjects, but under George Williams it narrowed its focus to the sciences. Williams brought the library from a state of neglect up to date, although by 1850 the Radcliffe Library still lagged behind the Bodleian. It was at this point that Henry Wentworth Acland, then librarian, laid out plans for the Radcliffe Library building to merge with the university and the library's collection of books to be moved to the newly constructed Radcliffe Science Library, which were accepted by the library's trustees and the university. It was at this point that the building became known as the Radcliffe Camera, serving as a reading room for the Bodleian.

History

Background

attended University College from the age of thirteen, becoming a fellow of Lincoln College at eighteen. In a successful medical career, his patients included William III and Queen Anne. He built up a large fortune and died childless. He is buried in St. Mary's Church, Oxford.
It was known that he intended to build a library in Oxford at least two years before his death in 1714. It was thought that the new building would be an extension westwards of the Selden End of the Bodleian Library. Francis Atterbury, Dean of Christ Church, writing in December 1712 describes plans for a 90 ft room on the site of neighbouring Exeter College, and that the lower storey would be a library for Exeter College and the upper story Radcliffe's Library.
Radcliffe dedicated £100 a year to furnishing his proposed library with books. Plans were prepared by Nicholas Hawksmoor and are now held in the Ashmolean Museum. By 1714, however, Radcliffe had settled on a different site for his new library, to the south of the existing Bodleian. William Pittis, Radcliffe's first biographer, ascribes the change of heart to excessive demands from the Rector and Fellows of Exeter College.

Plans

Radcliffe died on 1 November 1714. His will, proved on 8 December, provided for the building of a new library on the new site, stating:

And will that my executors pay forty thousand pounds in the terme of ten years, by yearly payments of four thousand pounds, the first payment thereof to begin and be made after the decease of my said two sisters for the building a library in Oxford and the purchaseing the houses between St Maries and the scholes in Catstreet where I intend the Library to be built, and when the said Library is built I give one hundred and fifty pounds per annum for ever to the Library Keeper thereof for the time being and one hundred pounds a year per annum for ever for buying books for the same Library.

It also provided £100 a year to maintain the new library, but only once 30 years had elapsed from his death. The library-keeper was to be chosen by several influential figures: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Winchester, the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench and the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the Master of the Rolls. The first payment was to be made after the death of Radcliffe's two sisters, Hannah Redshaw and Millicent Radcliffe. The latter lived until 1736, although it appears between the death of Redshaw in 1716 and Millicent Radcliffe in 1736, much preparatory work was done acquiring the site for the library.
A number of tenement houses fronting Catte Street, built right up to the schools, some gardens, Brasenose College outbuildings and Black Hall occupied the site required for the library. A number of colleges became involved in the development of the site. An added problem was that Brasenose required an equal amount of land fronting High Street in return for the land they were being asked to give up. As a consequence, the trustees had to negotiate with the owners and the tenants of the houses. The , was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that enabled any corporations within the university to sell ground for building a library. The negotiations dealing with Catte Street took over twenty years, with the final payments being made to Oriel, Magdalen and University colleges in 1737.
Radcliffe had placed four men in charge of his estate: William Bromley, sometime Speaker of the House of Commons; Sir George Beaumont, a Lord of the Admiralty; Antony Keck, a banker; and Thomas Sclater Bacon, a lawyer. There appears to have been some difficulty in getting the required majority to agree to work beginning before 1736, with the four split between Bromley and Beaumont wanting to start and Bacon and Keck set against them. Accordingly, Bromley made plans for work to start not long after 1720, but they were never fulfilled. The early start was to be funded by the high share price of investments in the South Sea Company, which proved overly optimistic.
It was therefore in 1720 that the choice of architect was first considered – Christopher Wren, John Vanbrugh, Thomas Archer, James Thornhill, John James, Nicholas Hawksmoor, and James Gibbs were all considered. By the time the Trustees began to consider the building project, however, their options had reduced: Wren had died in 1723, Vanbrugh in 1724, and Thornhill in 1734. In 1734, Hawksmoor and Gibbs were invited to submit plans. A model, believed to be to Hawksmoor's specification, was made in 1734 and presented to the university in 1913. The model was well-received and it appears to have only been Hawksmoor's death in 1736 that led the Trustees to appoint Gibbs as architect to the project. Gibbs was given a salary of £100 per annum "for directing and supervising the building of the Radcliffe Library and drawing all plans that shall be necessary for completing that work and corresponding with the builders, and going down four times in every year to see the building".
On 4 March 1737, the Trustees directed Gibbs along with Francis Smith of Warwick and William Townesend of Oxford 'to prepare Stones and things ready for building the library'. An early set of plans were engraved and prints delivered to the most important members of the town and university, no doubt to ensure that their opposition was dealt with swiftly. The university in particular seems to have influenced the Trustees' plan, although the Library would not form part of it. A second set were made a year later. A third set of prints, representing the final plans, were reprinted by Gibbs in his Bibliotheca Radcliviana of 1747.

Construction

On 17 May 1737, the foundation stone was laid. Four days before, the Trustees had decided on an inscription for it to bear on a copper plate. The whereabouts of neither the stone nor the plate are known, although it is believed that the copper plate adorned a section of the wall that was removed to create the doorway in 1863. That inscription read:

Quod Felix Faustumque sit
Academiae Oxoniensi
Die XVI. Kalendarum Junii
Anno MDCCXXXVII
Carolo Comite de Arran
Cancellario
Staphano Niblett S.T.P.
Vice-Cancellario
Thoma Paget et Iohanne Land A.M.
Procuratoribus
Plaudenti undique
Togata Gente
Honorabilis Admodum D^nus D^nus Carolus Noel Somerset
Honorabilis Iohannes Verney
Gualterus Wagstaff Bagot Baronettus
Edwardus Harley
et Armigeri
Edwardus Smith
Radclivii Munificentissimi
Testamenti Curatores
P.P.
Jacobo Gibbs Architecto

The progress of the building and the craftsmen employed is detailed both in the Minute Books of the Trustees and the Building Book, which supplement information given by Gibbs in his Bibliotheca Radcliviana. An extract states:

Mr. William Townesend of Oxford, and Mr. William Smith of Warwick, were employed to be masons; Mr. John Philipps to be the carpenter and joiner; Mr. George Devall to be plumber; Mr. Townsend junior to be stone carver; Mr. Linel of Long-acre, London, to be carver in wood; Mr. Artari, an Italian, to be their plaisterer in the fret work way; Mr. Michael Rysbrack to be sculptor, to cut the Doctor's figure in marble; and Mr. Blockley to be locksmith.

Francis Smith, the father of William, was chosen as one of the masons, but died in 1738 and was succeeded by his son near the beginning of building. In 1739, John Townesend also succeeded his father on the latter's death. The Clerk of Works for most of the construction was Thomas Jersey, who was paid £40 per annum. He was replaced in 1745 by George Shakespeare and shortly thereafter William Robinson. The construction went smoothly until February 1741, save for a short interruption in the latter part of 1740 when the threat of smallpox halted work. It was in February 1741 that there appears to have been either a misunderstanding or a change of plan concerning what the dome was to be constructed out of. It had been partially completed out of stone, to the value of over £700 of stonework completed or prepared, when all work was immediately halted. The Trustees threatened to take the matter to the Court of Chancery if Townesend and Smith pursued their claim for £700 to cover the stonemasons' bills; the Trustees did not make good this threat and they eventually paid the bill. Part of the stone dome was removed and the dome recovered in timber and lead. 41 tonnes of Derbyshire lead was used on the roof. The incident took over a year to completely resolve. The dome had been completed by March 1743. In 1742 or 1743, when the exterior scaffolding was being removed two men were killed in an accident. The Trustees approved the payment of £20 to be held on trust for the family of one of the dead men and inquired after the circumstances of the accident and the men injured.
Image:The Radcliffe Camera from the Bodleian end of Catte Street.jpg|thumb|220px|The Camera, as viewed from outside the Bodleian Library on Catte Street, with St Mary's obscured behind left.
The interior work began once the main structure was complete. John Phillips was employed as a carpenter for the Library's floors, windows and bookcases. Joseph Artari was chosen to be the project's plasterer, employing Charles Stanley and Thomas Toberts alongside him. In March 1745, the Trustees intervened to help ensure no work was proceeding by candlelight as the Library neared completion. A portrait of Radcliffe was sent to John Michael Rysbrack, who was tasked with creating a six-feet tall marble statue of the Library's benefactor. It was installed by Townesend and Smith. The responsibility for the ironwork for the gates for the seven exterior arches of the library was given to Robert Bakewell of Derby. His original estimate proved too low, however, explained by Gibbs to be a result of the French war. It eventually cost £364. The Trustee's meeting of 13 March 1746 reveals that the remaining work consisted of the paving of the library inside and out, the staircase rail, and the locks, hinges and bolts for the bookcases.
The exterior of the building was complete by 1747 and the building fully completed in 1748. A librarian was appointed, as was a porter. Before Radcliffe's death, the sub-librarian of the Bodleian, Thomas Hearne, was widely considered to have been Radcliffe's choice as his new librarian. He was not appointed, however, and the post remained unfilled. In 1737, another sub-librarian, Francis Wise, reached out to several influential figures to assist him in securing the position. However, by 1741 he had grown deeply weary of the level of competition he faced, particularly from a Richard Green, Radcliffe's great-nephew. The position did not go to Green, however: Wise was appointed to the position by a majority of one in 1748. The first porter was Pudsey Mussendine, who was paid a salary of £20 per annum, and received a gown in Radcliffe's colours and with his coat of arms emblazoned on it. The opening ceremony was delayed by around a year because of disturbances in Oxford. It finally took place on 13 April 1749.
Work on the exterior continued after the opening of the Library. In 1750, part of the land between the Camera and St. Mary's Church was remodelled to remove a dividing wall, level the ground and lay pebbles on it. This cost a total of £158. 17s, of which £100 came from the Trust and the rest from the university. The Old Convocation house was repaired in 1759 at the cost of £144. In 1751, the Trustees also agreed to the construction of twenty obelisks to hold gas lamps, which the university agreed to maintain. Only 14 were actually erected and in 1755 the Trustees reimbursed the university for the cost of maintaining them up to that point and took on the obligation itself out of the £100 per annum left by Radcliffe for the Library's upkeep. In 1758–9, for example, they were lit on 89 nights at a cost of £23. 6s. 1d.