The Pitt Rivers Museum houses the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford. The museum is joined to the east end of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and is accessed through that building.
See Pitt Rivers Museum website
1884 Augustus Pitt Rivers donated his private collection to the University of Oxford with the condition that a permanent lecturer in anthropology must be appointed. This formed the basis for the Pitt Rivers Museum.
1885 'THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL MUSEUM. An additional wing to the University Museum is now being made for the Pitt Rivers Collection. This building which is 100ft. by 67ft. clear of walls, was commenced about July last, and will shortly be completed. It will be entirely lighted from the roof, which is of iron, and the walls are of white brick, with Bath stone string courses, &c. Messrs. Deane and Son, of Dublin, are the architects, and Messrs. Symm and Co. the builders.'[1]
The 2012 Conservation Plan provides a great deal of information about aspects of the museum [2]
Entry to the museum is via the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The contrast between the two exhibition halls is remarkable. Natural light floods the Natural History Museum, while all natural light is excluded from the Pitt Rivers Museum. This was not the case originally. Over time, all glass has been removed or covered. The building's iron (or steel) structure is relatively simple, with ornamentation limited to features on the cast iron columns and some fancy work in the spandrels (the infill between the wrought iron (or steel) I-beam roof members and the cast iron columns).