Physical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford

Chemistry was first recognised as a separate discipline at Oxford in the mid 19th century with the construction of one of the first purpose-built laboratories, known as the Abbot’s Kitchen, a building next to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. At around the same time Balliol College commissioned a small laboratory in the basement of their new building. This, along with a chemistry laboratory built at Trinity College's Dolphin Yard in 1897, became known as the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories.

The Physical Chemistry Laboratory (PCL) was built in 1941, on South Parks Road in Oxford, replacing the Balliol-Trinity Laboratories. At that time, the department also included the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, which became a separate department in 1961. In 1972, the Department of Theoretical Chemistry was established with the two departments amalgamating in 1994 to become the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory (PCTL.)

At the time of construction, the Head Of Department was Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood who, along with Nikolay Semenov, was awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on the mechanisms of chemical reactions.