What is the name of the foundation that donated to complete construction work at the college?
The Second World War meant that construction work on the main college buildings could not begin until 21 April 1949, when the foundation stone was laid; work on the warden's residence had begun in October 1948. Before the buildings were erected, the college operated from rented houses elsewhere in Oxford, on Banbury Road and Woodstock Road. There were further changes to Harrison's second design, as not only had inflation between 1937 and 1949 reduced the value of Nuffield's original donation, but additional savings had to be made in the difficult post-war economic situation. A scale model, created in 1949 as work started, showed the alterations: a shortened tower, a plainer main entrance, and no arcades within the quadrangles. Further changes were made once work was under way, including the indefinite postponement of construction of the institute opposite the college. The plans of the tower were altered so that it would hold a library, instead of being purely ornamental, windows were added at regular intervals, and it was topped by a copper flèche, or small spire.A further delay in construction was announced in 1951, when labour and materials were restricted because of a government rearmament drive. Work to complete the quadrangle, including a hall, kitchen and the library tower, began in 1955 at a cost of £200,000. This money was donated to the college by the Nuffield Foundation upon Lord Nuffield's recommendation. Until it was required for books, the fellows of the college used the upper floor as a Senior Common Room. The tower was completed in 1956, and the college as a whole (without the institute on the site opposite, which is now used as a car park) was finished in 1960. Work was still under way when the college was incorporated by royal charter in 1958, thereby becoming a self-governing entity. The charter was presented to the college by the Duke of Edinburgh on 6 June 1958, at the first lunch to be served in the hall.Colvin commented that, apart from the flèche which was similar to the initial plan, the college as finally built contained none of the elements that had given Harrison's first design "interest and distinction". The remaining "vestiges" of the first plan, he said, were the two main axes within the college, although "no longer focussed on major architectural incidents", and the masonry around the main doors, cut to resemble the buildings of medieval Italy rather than those of Tudor England.
Nuffield Foundation