Architectural history
Study part-time with Oxford University
Short courses for beginners and professionals
Learn to ‘read’ architecture in a critically informed way, and to recognise and differentiate between major architectural styles with a short course in Oxford or online.
We also offer a programme of courses and workshops providing expert training for professionals in the historic environment, archaeology, museums and heritage sectors.
Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes
Many of our short courses, including short online courses (live and flexible), weekly classes in Oxford, and some summer schools, can be studied for credit, which means they can count towards a recognised qualification such as our Undergraduate Certificate of Higher Education.
We also offer two part-time postgraduate programmes in architectural history:
Upcoming courses
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course will explore the English medieval cathedral as a developing institution which survived over a thousand years of religious upheaval and historical change, focusing on the multifaceted architecture of a range of truly great churches.
- Mon 22 Sep 2025 – 05 Dec 2025
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course is the ideal introduction to English garden history. It provides an overview of five centuries of development, from baroque formalism through the naturalistic landscape style, right up to contemporary cutting-edge planting style.
- Wed 24 Sep 2025 – 05 Dec 2025
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course is designed to enable you to 'read' the architecture of the Western world in a critically informed way.
- Wed 24 Sep 2025 – 05 Dec 2025
Online - flexible • Short courses
Explore the culture of the English country house from its architectural form, social manners and distinctions to the furnishings and artistic manifestations of taste, as an expression of power and influence in a changing society.
- Wed 24 Sep 2025 – 05 Dec 2025
In-person weekly • Short courses
Explore the history of gardens and uncover how their design and creation have always reflected wider social and economic forces – from politics and religion to travel and conflict.
- Tue 30 Sep 2025 – Tue 28 Oct 2025
- 5 meetings
- 4:30 – 6:30pm
In-person weekly • Short courses
Explore British Modernism through the Brutalist architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. Discover iconic buildings and uncover the bold design principles that define Brutalism in Britain.
- Wed 01 Oct 2025 – Wed 29 Oct 2025
- 5 meetings
- 7:00 – 9:00pm
Related courses and spotlights
Cultural heritage training
Expert CPD tuition for those with a keen interest, professional or personal, in archaeology, historic buildings and cultural heritage.Undergraduate Certificate of Higher Education
A flexible, part-time route to an Oxford University qualification. Gain credit from flexible short online courses, weekly classes, and the Oxford University Summer School for Adults. Explore a wide range of subjects in this multidisciplinary programme.Postgraduate Certificate in Architectural History
This 11-month part-time course covers English architectural history from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day. The course consists of three taught units and a dissertation.DPhil in Architectural History
The programme is defined broadly to include the built and designed landscape, and aspects of interior design and is designed to enable students to undertake individual research.Student spotlights
View all student spotlights for this subject area