The Taylor institution was built as the main modern languages department for Oxford University, and is joined to the Ashmolean. It was built at the core of the city in 1884, replacing an old building used before as lodgings for students. It was founded by the architect Sir Robert Taylor, who left money to build a modern languages department in Oxford. The will was contested by Taylor’s son, but eventually the building was designed, in a Neo classical style. The building itself fluently combines the beauty of old architecture with the convenience of modern technology. With over 500000 books, many of them antique, its library is the largest of its kind in Britain.

Taylor died in 1788, but the Institute was not finished until 1884, nearly a century after its benefactors death! This was probably due to the legal battle over the will.

The barley twist columns in the front area of St Mary’s are very unusual for the architectural style.