EG Chandler and Douglas Murray, City Architects (1965)
Surely the chunkiest of all Oxford’s concrete buildings, the Castle Car Park in Cowley packs a mighty brutalist punch.
Built in the mid 1960s to serve the adjoining Templars Square Shopping Centre in Between Towns Road it looks pretty good for a 60 year old – incorporating as it does a number of refined details into its otherwise functional design.
Over the years, the car park has settled into its surroundings, as the trees have grown up around it, and lichen has softened its sharp edges. It has a stillness to it and a calm that belies its busy city location.
However – the future of Templars Square (and this car park) are currently uncertain – the site has been sold (and re-sold) to developers in recent years, with no clear redevelopment plan emerging from the current owners.
The shopping centre itself is ripe for redevelopment and I doubt anyone will miss it; but the Castle Car Park is kind of cool – conversion to apartments, perhaps?
Address: Castle Car Park, Crowell Road, Oxford OX4 3LN
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