Third Time's a Charm: St John's College

Today I took myself on a photo tour of St John's College (henceforth to be referred to as SJC). Here I share with you the fruits of my expedition, sans the library. I didn't go in there; I'm saving that gem for a different day.

Here's the street outside the college.

To the right of the main gate.

To the left of the main gate.

Further down the way to the left of the main gate.

Here is the main gate. Usually just the small entrance is open, not the whole thing.

Inside the main gate is the Porters' Lodge, doorway shown above. It's quite a tight fit; you can get yourself but not my largest suitcase through the door. The Porter's Lodge has our mailboxes, the spot to put money on your laundry machine card, and some very friendly porters who don't mind how many questions you ask them.

The Porters' Lodge leads to the Front Quadrangle. The rooms around the Front Quadrangle appear to be mostly dons' offices.

A note on terminology: not all people who teach at the university are professors. To quote WeeklyHome.com's article on "Mistakes not to make when you visit Oxford", "'Teachers' is only used for school teachers and there are only a few Professors at Oxford, it's a very prestigious position. The correct general term is 'Oxford dons', although you may also hear the term 'Oxford Fellow' for a don who is a Fellow or member of a college, 'Oxford lecturer' for someone appointed by a Faculty to give lectures, or 'Oxford tutor' for someone who gives tutorials but is not necessarily a permanent member of a college or lecturer." So there you have it.

To the right of the Front Quadrangle is the Dolphin Quadrangle, which is mostly used to store bikes.

To the left of the Front Quad (I'm unsure whether or not it is gauche to call it a quad instead of a quadrangle -- I haven't heard anyone shorten it yet) is North Quadrangle, which houses a lot of undergraduates. It also houses the administrative offices, located through Door No. 7, and the Beehive, which contains dorm rooms and is considered to be a superb example of '60s modernist architecture and is thus protected from ever being torn down or significantly remodeled.

No. 7 is on the far end of North, hidden by the trees in the above picture.

The passageway between Front and North Quads is pretty important. It houses the chapel, some storage for benches and rowing gear, and the dining hall.

Passageway

To the right

To the left

Farther left. It smells deliciously of old, old wood.

This is above the doorway in the passage. It's odd and I will have to look into it.

Past the back right corner of North (second door to the right and straight on 'til daylight) is Thomas White Quadrangle. The walls are painted with murals exalting the triumphs of our rowers. Here are a couple examples:

Even the more modern stairways in Thomas White Quadrangle look somewhat medieval.

Behind Thomas White is the MCR. This stands for Middle Common Room, and is the common room for graduate students. Ostensibly this is where I will spend the second most amount of time, outside of the library.

There are a few other rooms as well: a computer room, a study/seminar room, and a full kitchen.

Behind the MCR is the Garden Quadrangle, which houses more dorms -- I think. It also has a chess room! Now I wish I knew how to play the game.

To the right of the Garden Quadrangle (we're making a circle here) are the gardens. Ahem, excuse me, The Gardens.

The grass is a little yellow from the undergraduate graduation stage. The groundskeepers are freaking out. NO ONE is allowed to walk on ANY part of the grass unless they are a Fellow of that particular college. There supposedly is a particular patch of grass set aside as The Croquet Lawn but I have yet to see anything labeled as such. These are precious blades and are guarded as closely as the crown jewels. I have a theory that Tolkien based Smaug's relationship to his treasure hoard off of the colleges' relationship with their grass.

Through this doorway here is Canterbury Quadrangle, which is a straight shot through to Front Quadrangle, and we're back where we started. The college is somewhat L-shaped, and this quadrangle marks the conclusion of the tour of one of its branches.

Canterbury Quadrangle is regarded to be the quietest spot in all of Oxford, according to the MCR/graduate student body president who gave me a utilitarian tour yesterday. The back right corner of the quad as one faces The Gardens through Front Quad is where the library is located.

Lots of gargoyles and grotesques, each one different.

One of the more seasoned students says that you can tell the comparative wealth of SJC by the ornateness of its drainpipes. I think that's as good a yardstick as any.

And through the passageway…

… and back to Front Quadrangle!

So exiting Front Quadrangle and going back out to the road, there's the Lamb and Flag, which is the college-owned and -operated pub; St Giles House, which does admissions and such; and Kendrew Quadrangle, which houses graduate students and the Law Library.