Observatory Street links at the eastern end Woodstock Road (opposite Bevington Road

Bevington Road

Bevington Road is a road in central North Oxford, England.The road runs between Woodstock Road to the west and Banbury Road to the east. Winchester Road leads north from half way along Bevington Road....

 and St Anne's College and nearly opposite St Antony's College) in central North Oxford

North Oxford

North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College....

 and at the western end Walton Street

Walton Street

Walton Street is on the eastern edge of the Jericho district of central Oxford, England.- Overview :The street runs north from the western end of Beaumont Street and northern end of Worcester Street by the main entrance of Worcester College. Somerville College, one of the former women's colleges,...

 and the Jericho

Jericho, Oxford

Jericho is a historic suburb of the English city of Oxford. It consists of the streets bounded by the Oxford Canal, Worcester College, Walton Street and Walton Well Road. Located outside the old city wall, it was originally a place for travellers to rest if they had reached the city after the...

 area of Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The street borders the north side of Green Templeton College

Green Templeton College, Oxford

Green Templeton College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is the university's newest college having come into existence on 1 October 2008 from the merger of Green College and Templeton College...

, one of the Oxford University colleges, which has some student accommodation in the street. The street is named after the Radcliffe Observatory

Radcliffe Observatory

Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of Oxford University from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and erected a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a grade I listed building.- History :...

 (completed in 1794), which now forms a centrepiece for the College.

Observatory Street, developed from 1834, mainly consists of terraced houses directly on the street, many characterized by brightly painted stucco

Stucco

Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...

ed fronts in a variety of colours, especially on the south side of the street, which is very late Georgian

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

. Once built as small dwellings for poorer inhabitants of Oxford, often workers on early railway and canal construction, the houses now command high prices because of the central location of the street, within easy walking distance of the city centre and round the corner from the soon to be constructed Oxford University Administration, Humanities and Mathematics site.

Belsyre Court is located on the corner of Observatory Street and Woodstock Road. It was designed by Ernest R. Barrow and built in 1936. Belsyre Court was the first large block of flats in Oxford. An Inland Revenue

Inland Revenue

The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...

office was located here from 1936 until the early 1990s.