The present 61 Old Road has had the following names and numbers over the years:

• 1878–c.1890
  Highfield Cottage
• c.1890–1922
  Merton Lea
• 1922–1939
  15 Old Road
• 1939–c.1950
  27 Old Road
• c.1950–present
  61 Old Road

Highfield Cottage at 61 Old Road was one of the the first two houses to be built on the land of the old Highfield Farm. The owner of that farm, the Revd John Taylor of the Rookery School in Old Headington, had tried unsuccessfully to sell the farm lands to developers in 1875. In 1877 he had two houses built himself: a large villa facing the London Road (now Dorset House), and this sizeable cottage.

The following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 29 June 1878:

The pair were eventually auctioned at the Roebuck Hotel in Oxford on 20 November 1878. The advertisement for the sale in Jackson’s Oxford Journal describes what is now 61 Old Road as follows:

The newly-erected Brick-built and Blue-slated FREEHOLD COTTAGE RESIDENCE; containing 2 good sitting rooms, kitchen, scullery, pantry, and closet on the ground floor, and 5 capital bed rooms on the first floor, together with a piece of garden ground, the whole being in extent 20 Poles.

The house stands adjoining the Shotover Road, on a high elevation and dry soil, and gives extensive views of the surrounding country.

There is irony in the last sentence: the “surrounding country” was the land of Highfield Farm, just about to be developed. Although described as a cottage, it was in fact a substantial house with a 20-pole garden (approx. one-third of an acre).

The Adamson family, who were in this house at the time of the 1881 census, were probably the first people to live here. They may have used it as a country retreat, as at the time of the census William Charles Adamson and his wife Julia were staying over their tailor’s shop at 100/101 High Street, while their children Horace (7) and Bertie (6) were being looked after in this house by their maternal grandmother (Mary Seager) and their aunt. Although it was still known by the humble name of Highfield Cottage, there was a live-in servant described as a porter. There was a sale of furniture in the house advertised on 8 March 1884, implying that the Adamsons had moved out.

The next occupant (who renamed the house Merton Lea), was Frederick John Blackwell, the son of the bookseller Benjamin Henry Blackwell and the collector of water rates for Oxford. Born in 1851, he was the younger son of Benjamin Harris Blackwell, founder of the famous bookshop. The 1891 census shows him living in the house with his wife Annie (née Fitchett), his sons Frederick and Arthur, his mother-in-law, and their servant-girl of 13. His elder son Frederick Seymour Blackwell died at the Radcliffe Infirmary on 14 September 1892, and a month later on 13 October 1892 his first wife Annie died at Merton Lea at the age of 39. On 5 July 1894 at St Andrew's Church Blackwell married his second wife, Mary Amelia Remley Aldous, the second daughter of William Aldous of Clifton House, New Headington. By the time of the 1901 census his son Arthur (aged 17) was described as a mechanical engineer. At the time of the 1911 census Frederick Blackwell (58), still a rate collector for Oxford Corporation, was at Merton Lea with just his second wife Mary  and one servant. He was still living here in 1921 (now describing himself as a retired cashier) with his wife Mary and his sister-in-law Miss Rosine Aldous, plus one servant.

In about 1922 Frederick Blackwell senior built himself a smaller house called Morningside (now 50 Bickerton Road) in his back garden and sold the main house. He died at the age of 84 and was buried in Headington Cemetery on 12 April 1835.

The new owner of 61 Old Road was Percy Simpson (1865–1962), Fellow of Oriel College and University Reader in English textual criticism, and his wife Evelyn Mary Simpson (1885–1963). Fellow of St Hugh's College. They were both well-known renaissance scholars, and remained in the house until 1960.

In 1961, 61 Old Road was converted into three flats with new garages built in what was left of its garden. The final remnant of the original 20-pole garden of Highfield Cottage was lost in 1987, when two detached houses (52 & 54 Bickerton Road) were squeezed into the garden of 50 Bickerton Road (which itself was a back-garden development of 61 Old Road).

The building was refurbished in 2005/6 by BradAndrews and now consists of seven apartments. In addition another new house was built in the garden behind.