Building
The church was designed by Joseph Hansom in a Gothic Revival style. Much of the original interior decoration was painted over in the 1970s, and the altar moved forward. The building is being gradually restored as part of the "Oxford Oratory - Reaffirmation & Renewal" campaign.
The church consists of a single nave and five side chapels. To the left of the sanctuary is the Sacred Heart chapel, and the Lady Chapel is to the right. There are also chapels dedicated to St Philip Neri (formerly St Joseph's chapel) and Our Lady of Oxford (also known as the relic chapel). There are currently plans to build a new baptistery and a chapel dedicated to Cardinal Newman after his beatification in September 2010.
Read more about this topic: Oxford Oratory
Famous quotes containing the word building:
“An island always pleases my imagination, even the smallest, as a small continent and integral portion of the globe. I have a fancy for building my hut on one. Even a bare, grassy isle, which I can see entirely over at a glance, has some undefined and mysterious charm for me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Our civilization is characterized by the word “progress.” Progress is its form rather than making progress being one of its features. Typically it constructs. It is occupied with building an ever more complicated structure. And even clarity is sought only as a means to this end, not as an end in itself. For me on the contrary clarity, perspicuity are valuable in themselves.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“Travelling is the ruin of all happiness! There’s no looking at a building here after seeing Italy.”
—Fanny Burney (1752–1840)