Survey Data
Reg No
15504026
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Building misc
Date
1875 - 1880
Coordinates
304193, 121385
Date Recorded
10/01/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached seven-bay three-storey study hall-cum-dormitory with dormer attic, built 1878-9, on a rectangular plan. Pitched slate roof centred on flat roofs to window openings to dormer attic with clay ridge tiles, cut-granite coping to gables on cut-granite kneelers with wrought iron Cross finials to apexes, cement rendered buttressed off-central "wallhead" chimney stack to courtyard (north) elevation having cut-granite chamfered capping supporting terracotta pots with cement rendered central "wallhead" chimney stack to rear (south) elevation having capping, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-granite eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Part repointed coursed rubble stone wall to courtyard (north) elevation with stepped buttresses to corners having cut-granite "slated" coping; cement rendered surface finish (remainder). Shallow triangular or pointed segmental-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and red brick block-and-start surrounds framing one-over-one timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds shared with Saint Peter's College.
Appraisal
A study hall-cum-dormitory illustrating the continued development or "improvement" of the Saint Peter's College complex in the later nineteenth century with the architectural value of the composition, one clearly showing the influence of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52), suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the construction in unrefined local fieldstone offset by red brick dressings producing a mild polychromatic palette; the uniform or near-uniform proportions of the openings on each floor with the "pointed" profile of those openings underpinning a streamlined Gothic theme; and the high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a study hall-cum-dormitory forming part of a self-contained ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a suburban setting.