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Castle Hill House Project
Honouring the past, building for the future. Learn more about our new development, Castle Bailey Quad, which will include two new student accommodation buildings, Damazer House and Westfield House.
Latest news from the development
Stay tuned for the latest news and events related to the development of the Castle Hill House site.
Names chosen for St Peter’s new student accommodation buildings and new quad
31 July 2022
View articleBackground
Learn more about the background of the Castle Hill House campaign.
Alumni and supporters have responded in strikingly generous ways to the appeal for funds to help us build two new accommodation buildings, a new courtyard, a new common room and a new entrance to College. This new expansion will be known collectively as Castle Bailey Quad, nodding to the site's historical and archaeological ties to the nearby Oxford Castle.
To date, donors and alumni have raised close to £13m. Such extraordinary generosity will allow the College to make a transformative difference both to the feel of the College estate and to our capacity to continue making a top-flight Oxford education available to talented young people irrespective of means or background.
The acquisition of this site in 2018 represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enlarge our College site and build affordable student accommodation within the expanded College curtilage.
An enormously generous match funding offer of £5m from an anonymous donor helped to inspire others to give and accelerated our rising totals. As a direct result of that wonderful gift, we are delighted to announce that one of our two new student accommodation buildings will be named after our previous Master, Mark Damazer – a fitting tribute to the energy and vision which characterised Mark and Rosie’s nine years at St Peter’s. Damazer House will nestle in close to Canal House and Bulwarks Lane.
A generous gift of £5m from the Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust, in memory of Alexander Mosley, a gifted St Peter’s alumnus who died young, has enabled the construction of the other accommodation building at the boundary of the new development at the New Road end. At the invitation of the Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust, the College embarked on a community naming project in the 2021-22 academic year. Current College students and employees selected the name Westfield House in honour of the women of Westfield College, London, who relocated to St Peter's during World War II. You can learn more about the naming project and the historical significance of the site names here.
This campaign has been notable as much for the support it has generated across the College community as for these foundational gifts. So far, more than 1 in 10 of all alumni contacted have given, a participation rate that would be notable for any college. We are proud and touched that the St Peter’s community has stepped forward to help in this impressive way. In referencing what has inspired them to give, donors have mentioned both their recognition of the College’s very positive contribution to their own lives and their understanding of the clear need for future generations of students. We could not be more grateful: thank you all.
This is, in its very nature, a shared project in which we collectively have an investment in the future of St Peter’s: thinking about it in these shared terms has been such a pleasure and we have loved hearing from so many of you about why College matters to you. Whatever the size of your gift, we want to thank all who have joined in making it possible for the College to move forward confidently with this inspiring development project. We look forward to celebrating with as many as can join us when we celebrate the opening of Castle Bailey Quad (celebration scheduled for June 2024).
Campaign still open
In order to get us to the total £15m needed, the campaign remains open. A few naming opportunities remain – including a handful of new student rooms. Small gifts are every bit as welcome as large ones: we are just delighted that a broad-based community feels part of this.
If you might still like to be involved with us in helping to deliver on this important project for College, we’d love to hear from you. If you'd like to contribute, you can make your gift today by credit card via the button below.
Alternatively, if you would like to support through the Oxford North America office, please visit www.oxfordna.org/donate and select 'St Peter's College'.
Contact us
The St Peter's College Development and Alumni Relations Office is open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. Stop by our office on the first floor of Staircase I, or contact us using the details below. We look forward to hearing from you!
Mailing address
Development and Alumni Relations
St Peter's College
New Inn Hall Street
Oxford
OX1 2DL
UK
St Peter’s College, Oxford is a registered charity no 1143166