Construction of Rhodes House began in 1926 after the Rhodes Trust purchased the two-acre plot fromWadham College the previous year. The mansion was designed by architectSir Herbert Baker and modelled on theCape Dutch farmhouse design and traditional English Country mansions.[3] This is reflected in the large beams, trans-domed windows and its Tetra-styleportico. The square rubble walls were designed to be consistent with the Western European 17th century architecture of theOxford University campus. Other features include the open-well staircase constructed from oak, featuring shaped balusters and carved eagle finials.[3][1] Construction was completed in 1928 and the building and its library were handed over to Oxford University.[4][1]
Rhodes House was commissioned by the Rhodes Trust as a memorial to Cecil Rhodes, to act as a centre for research for the "British Empire and Commonwealth, of African and the United States of America", and to be the headquarters of the Rhodes Scholarship system and Rhodes Trust.
Sir Herbert Baker, described as "Cecil Rhodes' own architect",[5] was the sole-architect of Rhodes House. Architectural sculpture was provided byCharles Wheeler, who also worked on other inter-war colonial buildings including:India House,South Africa House and theNeuve Chapelle Indian Memorial.[6] Rhodes House features a series of public rooms included a library, reading room, lecture hall and seminar rooms, a hall in which the Rhodes Scholars hold their annual dinner and the residence for the Rhodes Trust Oxford Secretary or Warden.
When Rhodes House was completed all the material relating to the British Empire and U.S. were transferred from theBodleian Library.[5] Also known as the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth & African Studies at Rhodes House. In 1990 the library held more than 330,000 books and the archives relating to US and other former colonies and dominions of the British Empire. The Library was a key research centre in the UK.[9]
In 2014 the Library moved to theWeston Library.[10] The Library is now known as the Commonwealth and African Studies Collections.
Zambian human rights activistLucy Banda-Sichone; her portrait, unveiled in 2015, was the first of a woman Rhodes Scholar ever displayed in Rhodes House.[12]
TheRhodes Trust is based at Rhodes House. The Rhodes Trust, established in 1902 under the terms and conditions of the will ofCecil Rhodes, and by subsequent Acts of Parliament, is an educational charity[21] whose principal activity is to support scholars selected from the citizens of 14 specifiedgeographic constituencies to study at the University of Oxford.Rhodes Scholarships for up to three years have been awarded annually since 1903.[22] The goals of Cecil Rhodes in creating the Scholarships were to promote civic-minded leadership among young people with (in the words of his 1899 Will) "moral force of character and instincts to lead", and (in the words of a 1901 codicil to his Will) to help "render war impossible" through promoting understanding between the great powers.[23]
In 2002, in partnership withNelson Mandela, the Rhodes Trust established theMandela Rhodes Scholarship.[24] The Rhodes Trust provides the Rhodes Scholarships in partnership with the Second Century Founders,John McCall MacBain O.C., theAtlantic Philanthropies, and other benefactors. In 2016 the Trust announced a partnership with Atlantic Philanthropies to create an Atlantic Institute, which has offices at Rhodes House. Funding for this project allowed the Trust to expand the total number of Rhodes Scholars and to offer scholarships to students from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, China, and West Africa.[25]
In 2017, theSchmidt Science Fellows programme was launched as a partnership betweenSchmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust.[26] The programme was established to facilitate cross-discipline research that could lead to scientific breakthroughs.[27][28]
The Rhodes Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees,[29] and the Warden of Rhodes House acts as Secretary to the Trust.[30]
^See, e.g., "To 'render war impossible': the Rhodes Scholarships, educational relations between countries, and peace" inDonald Markwell,"Instincts to Lead": On Leadership, Peace, and Education (Connor Court Publishing, 2013)
