New Oxford Geological Laboratory -- An exterior view of the new building of the Department of Geology and Mineralogy at Oxford. A gift of ?25,000 to Oxford University in 1937 by the Shell Petroleum Company has made possible the building and equipment of a new laboratory in the Department of Geology and Mineralogy. The new building, which has been erected on the site of the original Clarendon Physics Laboratory (built in 1860), is to be formally opened on 7th July, 1949, by the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. June 01, 1949. (Photo by Shell Photograph).