Celebrating 30 years of the College Library refurbishment

2025 marks the 30-year anniversary of the transformation of St Antony’s College Library. The refurbishment project revitalised the Library, creating a brighter and more welcoming space for students to engage in study.

Housed in the former (unconsecrated) chapel of the Holy Trinity Convent, the College Library has long been central to academic life at St Antony’s. It was originally altered to function as a library in 1953. A floor-to-ceiling partition was constructed to conceal the altar and apse, hiding the wall paintings by Charles Edgar Buckeridge (son of the convent’s original architect, Charles Buckeridge) and Ethel King Martin.

The Library space was expanded in the early 1970s when the architects of the recently-constructed Hilda Besse Building were commissioned to make improvements to the Old Main Building. They created the building that houses a staircase to the lower floor, the library office and book stacks created from the College’s former kitchen. The Gulbenkian Room (the College’s former dining hall) was also opened as an additional reading room.

But by the early 1990s, the Library needed more space for its collections and readers. Facilities were outdated and the College had outgrown the space. In 1995 the Library underwent a major refurbishment and redesign to create the space we know and love today.

The 1950s partition was removed, revealing the previously hidden apse wall paintings (which were also restored). An upper gallery was built to increase book storage and space for students. They even added facilities for laptops and access to online research resources, securing the building’s use for decades to come.

“Look what money and imagination can do! The Main Library used to be a gloomy and ill equipped area with few workspaces. Money from the Antonian Fund has enabled the College not only to restore the Chapel to its original ecclesiastical dimensions and richness, but has also allowed for radical updating and expanding of both its shelving and research facilities.”

St Antony’s College Newsletter, Hilary Term 1996

Today, the College Library remains at the academic heart of St Antony’s. Holding over 55,000 books and providing access to a wide range of online resources, it aims to provide core teaching materials for courses taken by College members and maintain its heritage.

You can see a display about the College Library’s refurbishment in the display case out the Library until the end of September.