From Castle to Council House



Overview

This course will cover the domestic house from the early middle ages and the barons castle, through the jettied half-timbered structures remaining today in such towns as Canterbury and York, the introduction of brick buildings displaying classical influence in the 17th century at all social levels, the Palladian influence in the 18th century on mansions and town development such as Bath, Edinburgh, Brighton and Cheltenham; the battle of styles between the classical and gothick revival, and the rise of the brick terraces in the industrial towns of the 19th century.  

The course concludes with a look at Metroland and Southern Electric middle class urban expansion, post war prefabs and the success and failure of high-rise development from  Roehampton to the present day London Docklands where warehouses have  been turned into our modern 'domestic castles'.

Programme details

Course starts:  28 Sept 2023

Week 1: Introduction: definition and range of buildings to be studied.  The Castle, manor house and timber-framed cottage

Week 2: The Tudor Renaissance

Week 3: Inigo Jones and the rise of the merchant class.

Week 4: The Fire of London: from timber framed houses to brick terraces.

Week 5: Vanbrugh, Hawksmoor and Archer, & the Baroque house

Week 6: Palladian simplicity: the rise of the spa town,  Bath and Cheltenham

Week 7: The Gothick and Chinoiserie: from Horace Walpole and John Nash and beyond

Week 8: Victorian expansion ; from  town centres to suburbs

Week 9: The rise of Metroland and the inter-war suburbs

Week 10: Post war development:  from prefabs to high rise. New Towns  or green-belt expansion?

Certification

Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Fees

Description Costs
Course fee £257.00
Take this course for CATS points £10.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Dr Hubert Pragnell Pragnell

Hubert Pragnell has been a part-time tutor for OUDCE since 2003. He trained in fine art at the Ruskin School of Fine Art in Oxford, as well as holding a masters degree, and doctorate in history from the University of York. He is a tutor in history of architecture and has written and illustrated a number of books on British architecture. He has a special interest in buildings including industrial from the 16th to the 20th century. He enjoys painting especially landscapes and architectural subjects.

Course aims

To introduce the student to the development of British domstic architecture so as to be familiar with styles and period of buildings encountered in both town and country.

Course objectives:

  • To familiarise the student with the basic domestic building types.
  • To place them in the context of period and style.
  • To understand how patronage, private or public finance, and availability of material may have affected the design.

Teaching methods

Teaching will be by power-point supplimented by duplicated notes and diagrams.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

  • be familar with key style, featuress and materials in building;
  • put buildings seen into a rough perid;
  • know something of the circumstances and patronage governing the development of specific buildings or domestic house development.

Assessment methods

Students will be expected to submit a short piece of coursework in the form of a study of a particular building or period style studied during the course. It may be illustrated with photographs or diagrams. Advice will be given at the commencement of the course, but the choice of topic will be left to the student.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

Application

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

Most of the Department's weekly classes have 10 or 20 CATS points assigned to them. 10 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of ten 2-hour sessions. 20 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of twenty 2-hour sessions. It is expected that, for every 2 hours of tuition you are given, you will engage in eight hours of private study.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support