Pusey House

Pusey Memorial House was opened on 9 October 1884 as a memorial to Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, a canon of Christ Church Cathedral and for 40 years a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, a movement of the mid-19th century which sought to bring the Church of England to a deeper understanding of its witness as part of the universal ("Catholic") church. It was also intended to continue the work of Pusey in restoring the Church of England's Catholic life and witness. It was established with a fund of £50,000 to provide a building for Pusey's library, purchase it and create an endowment so that two or more clergy could take charge of it and promote…

From 1884 until 1912, Pusey House occupied two townhouses on St Giles' on the site of the current building. Following a 1903 benefaction of £70,000 from a Leeds solicitor, John Cudworth, and with a growing ministry to the university, Pusey House was able to consider rebuilding. In 1910, the governors took advantage of the falling in of a lease at a neighbouring townhouse which was subsequently bought and demolished to make way for the new buildings. baldacchino and stained glass ]]The principal at the time, Darwell Stone, requested that the new building should include a chapel "of good and simple architecture to hold about 200 and a side chapel to hold about thirty" alongside lecture rooms,…