The college is set in a 4.57 hectares (11.3 acres) landscaped site in Opoho on the opposite side of the Dunedin Botanic Gardens from the university.

[3] Knox College was established in 1909 to provide residence for male students and to house an existing seminary for Presbyterian ministers.

The college is named after John Knox, a sixteenth century leader of the Scottish Reformation, whose efforts in establishing a universal system of free education comprising both academic learning and character formation had a profound influence, not just in Scotland, but internationally, as subsequent generations of Scottish settlers, products of the Scottish Enlightenment, emigrated to far-flung corners of the globe, including New Zealand, taking with them a deep-seated belief in the benefits of applied knowledge and a broad and liberal education.

Other notable names on the list of KCSC presidents are Professor Sir David Skegg (1969), who later served as vice-chancellor of the university (2004–11), Judge E.O.K.

Blaikie (1967), and Mr Joel Amosa (2009), winner of New Zealand's top singing prize, the Lexus Song Quest (2018).

[7] A distinguishing characteristic of Knox, courtesy of it being independently owned, is the freedom it has to accept students back for a second, or even third, year.

Returners play a role in setting the tone of the college, passing on traditions, and making incoming students feel welcome.

The college achieved its centenary in 2009, with approximately 600 guests attending a variety of events over the celebration weekend in early August.

The college buildings are an imposing group representing a persistent and successful effort to carry out an architectural idea over an extended time which saw considerable change.

Early in the 20th century it acquired the core of the site in Opoho, above North East Valley, intending to re-house the seminary and to provide accommodation for its students and others attending the University of Otago.

[11][12] Young's plans envisaged development well beyond the college's immediate requirements taking the form of four ranges surrounding a central quadrangle.

After the first stage was completed he was retained as architectural adviser and remained responsible for the buildings' design for more than forty years.

This part, the range on the north side of the quadrangle, included not only provision for teaching but a dining hall and servants' accommodation.

Knox has the characteristic Tudor arches, oriel windows and battlements and the elaboration of forms and details, if not to the extent of Harlaxton Manor, sometimes pointed to as the type, or template, of the style.

The three storeyed ranges and the forward thrusting subordinate reaches present a complex, but legible and imposing face to the world.

The interiors were spacious and finished with period detailing, including panels and hammer beams in the Dining Hall and stained glass and elaborate plasterwork, notably in the chapel.

Plans to extend the southern range, known as the "South Wing", were prepared by him in enough detail to be estimated by 1929 but the Depression and the Second World War prevented their execution.

The new building, to become known as the Hewitson Wing, was set parallel to the main west range, behind it, forming the east flank of the quadrangle.

It too is decorated inside in period fashion, the library, for example, managing to make the reference to an Elizabethan interior with a plausible degree of conviction.

That had been anticipated in the Gray Young era but in 1953 the council commissioned Salmond & Burt to prepare plans to extend the hall, estimated at £2,500.

The extension reaches into the quadrangle courtyard, terminating in a crenellated bay window with stained lead lights.

It extended the "South Wing" eastward, taking the southern range to its present extent, further closing the quadrangle.

The quadrangle was still not completed and with the centennial of the Theological Hall approaching the College Council decided in August 1974 to mark it by extending the library.

Opportunity was also taken to refurbish the main building from top to bottom, and to open up the Great Hall to the Junior Common Room to facilitate dining for the increased numbers at the college on formal occasions.

In the summer of 2019–2020, the area of the college known as Somerville Close, comprising Mackay, Marshall, Glendining and Wilson Houses, underwent an extensive refurbishment.

[21] Additionally, two archives held by the Presbyterian Research Centre have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Aotearoa New Zealand Ngā Mahara o te Ao register: the Ng New Zealand Chinese Heritage Collection,[22] and the PCANZ Deaconess Collection.

[8] In 2019, an article published in the Otago University Students' Association magazine, Critic Te Arohi, unveiled that the college had a culture of misogyny that normalised sexual misconduct against females.

[1][48] The strong Scottish Presbyterian roots of Knox are reflected in its coat of arms, which takes the form of a blue St Andrew's Cross; superimposed on the St Andrew's Cross is the image of a white dove in flight, carrying an olive branch in its mouth, a symbolic depiction of the flood myth in Genesis 8, wherein the olive-branch-bearing dove is a symbol of life and peace.