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No. 12 Broad Street dates from the early nineteenth century. It is a Grade II listed building (List Entry No. 1047344) and is owned by Oxford City Council. It is in St Michael-at-the-Northgate parish

At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford the frontage of this house measured 6yd 0ft 6in. It was then occupied by the artist John  Malchair (c.1730–1812). In 1793 he advertised that people could subscribe at this address “opposite Baliol [sic] College” for a print of his drawing of the Old Canterbury Gateway in Christ Church.

At the time of the 1851 census this building was occupied by the tailor James Price and his wife and his six children, looked after by one servant.

In 1857 the premises were destroyed by a fire that started at No. 13 next door.

Charles Titian Hawkins had his accountant’s business in the second half of the nineteenth century, but he let the upstairs rooms out, living at Mayfield in Summertown, which he had bought in 1851. (Despite being the biggest landowner in Summertown, in 1895 he became bankrupt at the age of 73: it was “one of the most sensational financial disasters known in Oxford”, according to the Oxford Times.)

In 1881 there were three people renting the upstairs premises (the retired bookseller William Graham, an undergraduate, and a gardener), looked after by two servants.

In 1891 the upstairs premises were occupied by the gardener John Basson (45) and his wife and daughter.

The 1901 census shows Caleb Court Cole (53), the photographer who had the shop on the ground floor, living here with his wife Caroline and their four children, plus a servant.

No one appears to have been living over the shop at the time of the 1911 census.

During the Second World War there was a post office here: hence the pillar box that still stands outside.