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St. Philip & St. James Church, home to the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) since 1983, is a Grade I listed building of significant historical and architectural importance. Designed by renowned architect George Edmund Street, this Victorian Gothic Revival masterpiece has served OCMS for 40 years. The Church houses an 18,000-book library, lecture spaces, and chapel. This unique setting fosters a vibrant community that bridges historical heritage and contemporary scholarship.

The Church is a high point of the Victorian Gothic Revival, consecrated in 1862 and completed in 1865. Key features highlighting its architectural importance include:

• A prominent spire, a defining element of Oxford's skyline
• Innovative use of continental European design elements
• Association with the Oxford Movement, with a focus on the chancel and altar
• Preservation of original fittings, such as the pulpit, font, rare marble, and fine ironwork

The church's design bridges high Victorian Gothic style with emerging modernist principles, exemplifying a crucial link in the evolution of architectural thought. It also boasts an intact glazing scheme devised by Street and executed by Clayton & Bell, maintaining a remarkable degree of consistency despite later additions by Burlison & Grylls and C.E. Kempe.

We look forward to welcoming visitors and showing them this great Victorian masterpiece and its splendid stained glass windows. 

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