In the title mol-ecule, C17H13NO2, the phenyl ring is inclined to the quinoline ring system by 43.53 (4)°. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked via C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming double-stranded chains propagating along [011]. These chains are linked via π-π inter-actions involving inversion-related quinoline rings; the shortest centroid-centroid distance is 3.6596 (17) Å.