135: Ace & Tate Eyeware/Shezan restaurant
No. 135 is a Grade II listed building (List Entry No. 1186742), said to date from the early eighteenth century. It was in the parish of All Saints until that church closed in 1971. It is now in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church.
In 1679 Elinor Sylvester, who had a house on this site, was “burnt out and built a new”, but it is uncertain whether the core of the present house is that of the 1679 building.
In 1696 Matthew Pinnell paid tax on 16 windows here.
The first occupant of the new house on this site in the eighteenth century appears to have been the goldsmith Samuel Wilkins, and later his nephew of the same name. When Wilkins retired in 1757 his widow Catherine took over the business, and when she retired in May 1759 Edward Lock, who had worked for Wilkins, announced that he had taken over the business and was moving it across to the other side of the road (to 7 High Street in the same parish).
By 1772 No. 135 was an upholsterer's shop, and the Survey of Oxford that year shows that it was was then in the occupation of a Mr Munday, and its frontage measured 6 yards 1 foot 11 inches. Thomas Munday, upholsterer, died in 1792 and was buried in All Saints' churchyard on 31 July.
The 1841 census marks No. 135 as uninhabited. The 1851 census shows Franklin Thomas, the upholsterer here, living over the shop with his wife Harriet and their four children, plus three servants and an undergraduate lodger.
By 1854 the tailor Richard Embling had this shop, but in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 18 December 1858 he described it as a Household furnishing manufactory and general furnishing warehouse when he announced that he had renewed his lease and intended to make considerable alterations to these premises. At the time of the 1861 census Embling (41) was described as an upholsterer and was living here with his wife Anne, his apprentice cabinet-maker, and a servant. Only the servants and the lodger were at home at the time of the 1871 census, and the premises were listed as unoccupied in the 1881 census. Emblng had his buiness here until 1883.
From 1884 to 1894 the tailors S. Baker & Son were here. At the time of the 1891 census the lodging house upstairs was run by Mrs Harriet Bancalari (45), who lived here with her two children and their servant.
By the time of the 1901 census Laura Collice (63), who ran a lodging house in the rooms over the tailor's shop, was living here with a housemaid and a house boy.
The 1911 census shows the widow Julia Stiles (42) living in the ten rooms over this shop with her stepdaughter and son and running a lodging house here.
The 1921 census shows Sidney Slay (48), the caterer who ran the refreshment rooms over the tailor's shop, living in six rooms with his wife Alice and their son.
The building was bought by the University of Oxford in 1947.
Photograph of 135 High Street in 1949, when it was occupied by Finlay & Co., tobacconists
On 7 May 1999 the freehold of No. 135 was bought by two companies registered in the Bahamas: MDDT Nominees SA and Wolfe Nominees Ltd (ON123090).
Occupiers of 135 High Street |
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Date |
135 High Street downstairs |
135 High Street upstairs |
|
Early 1700s |
To 1728: John Wilkins the elder, Goldsmith |
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By 1772–1792 |
Mr [Thomas] Munday and his wife Ann, Upholsterer |
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1839 |
William Payne, Cabinet maker |
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By 1846–1852 |
Franklin Thomas, Upholsterer |
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1854–1883 |
Richard
Embling (later Embling & Co.), |
Lodgings |
|
1884–1894 |
S.
Baker & Son |
Lodgings
|
|
1895–1914 |
Lomman
& Preston |
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1915–1922 |
Refreshment Rooms |
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1925 |
The Swiss Restaurant |
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1928–1931 |
Town & Gown Restaurant |
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1932 |
No listing |
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1934–1945 |
A.
Baker & Co. Ltd |
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1947–1976+ |
Finlay
& Co. |
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1995 |
Oxford
Blues |
Behind: |
Gate of India |
1998–2002 |
West World Leather & Casual Wear |
Shemon’s Indian Cuisine (to 2002) | |
2002–2007 |
Café Zouk then Shezan Restaurant by 2019 |
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2007–2019 |
Reiss (building behind reconstructed for them in 2009) |
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2019– |
Ace & Tate Eyeware |
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