Review of Tower of the Five Orders

This review of Tower of the Five Orders originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

This iconic Oxford landmark is named for the architectural characteristics of each of its five floors. Each exhibits a different order – or “style” – of classical architecture: from bottom to top – tuscan, doric, ionic, corinthian and composite. Part of the joy of “discovering” the tower, visiting as a tourist, comes from the fact that despite it’s size it’s unlikely to be the first thing you see as you enter the quad: coming in from the Great Gate, for example, it won’t be until you turn around and look up that you see it… and even at a glance you won’t necessarily observe its unusual architecture unless you’ve been told to look specifically at the columns.