St Stephen's House was founded in 1876 to train priests for the Church of England in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. The college became a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford in 2003. Since 1980 St Stephen's House has occupied the range of monastic buildings built for the Cowley Fathers, an Anglican religious order, and designed by the great Victorian architect G. F. Bodley. These include a domestic chapel subsequently re-decorated and extended by Sir Ninian Comper, and the great conventual church of St John the Evangelist, which contains some of Bodley's finest decorative work and church furnishings. Prior to 1980 the college occupied buildings in Norham Gardens that are now divided between the Education Department and St Edmund Hall. The paintings at St Stephen's House are not in public ownership. In accordance with the charitable aims of the College, which is a private institution, the College's collection is included on this website for the benefit of scholarship and for wider public awareness. Access to the Collection is by appointment only and is restricted to those engaged in academic research, who should apply to The Principal's PA, St Stephen's House, Oxford, OX4 1JX.