PLANS have been put forward for a blue plaque to honour an architect who lived in Oxford and worked on several of its buildings.

John Chessell Buckler (1793-1894), an architect, artist and antiquarian, lived at 58 Holywell Street from 1861 to 1889.

His architectural works included the Schoolroom at Magdalen College, now a library, the Turl Street front of Jesus College, as well as restorations at Oriel College, Brasenose College, the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, in High Street, and church restorations in Adderbury, Iffley and Pyrton.

He also superceded Henry Jones Underwood as the architect at Oxford Castle Prison and Littlemore Hospital in the 1850s.

The proposal for a blue plaque in his memory has been put forward by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board and the Oxfordshire Architectural & Historical Society.

Top News

In their application to Oxford City Council, the groups wrote: “Buckler was one of the most important antiquarians of his time.

“His Observations on the Original Architecture of St Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, played a major part in persuading the college to abandon some of its more destructive proposals for altering their 15th Century buildings.

“It was, and still remains, a major source for the understanding of the architectural history of the college.”

Drawings by Buckler are kept in both the Bodleian and British libraries.

The most recent blue plaque unveiled by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board was when Arthur Edwin Preston was honoured.

He did more than almost any other individual to preserve Abingdon’s history, having been the first person to be elected mayor of the town without being a councillor first.

The plaque was unveiled at his former home in Park Crescent in June.

The board, established in 1999, is under the chairmanship of Robert Evans, Regius Professor of History Emeritus, and includes people from across Oxfordshire.