ENGLISH COLLEGIATE STYLE, in architecture, a style developed in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. It is characterized by the per sistence of Gothic tradition (see GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE) with only slight modifications due to the creeping in of Renaissance elements (see RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE) ; the grouping of buildings around quadrangles, entered by an arched gate in a tower, the combination of many window lights into one mullioned and transomed opening; parapets, sometimes battlemented; long rows of similar small gables ; bay or oriel windows ; and the frank exterior expression of the various types of halls, large rocms and small sleeping rooms which form the college. In general it is based on the domestic architecture of the time, in earlier examples resembling late Gothic manors, and in the later, the larger Eliza bethan or Jacobean country houses; during the I7th century classic motives, often of great quaintness and crudeness, are gen eral in the detail of doors, etc., without seriously changing the spirit of the entire style.