St Dominic's Convent and Priory School and boundary walls, Stone, Staffordshire

Summary

A convent and priory school of 1852-3 and 1856-8 by Charles Hansom and Joseph Hansom, extended 1861-3 by Gilbert Blount, for Mother Margaret Hallahan.

Description

A convent and priory school of 1852-3 and 1856-8 by Charles Hansom and Joseph Hansom, extended 1861-3 by Gilbert Blount, for Mother Margaret Hallahan.

MATERIALS: The convent is built of brick with stone dressings to the windows and slate roofs.

PLAN: The main part of the convent is arranged around a cloister which is attached to the Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Dominic to the south-east. Blount's later extension projects from the northern corner to the north-west.

EXTERIOR: The convent and school are characterised by their tall, gabled elevations in a Gothic Revival style, of red brick with quoins of buff yellow brick and decoration in engineering brick. The buildings are mostly of two storeys with an attic level above. The NE entrance façade has a long elevation with the main entrance through a projecting covered porch with the main door in a moulded surround under a niche with a statue of the Madonna and Child. This elevation has paired windows mostly of two lights, those to the ground floor with pointed arch heads and those lighting the stair with blind quatrefoil panels below. Adjacent to the church to the south is a single storey, four-bay projection under a mansard roof. The elevation above has gabled dormers flanking a lateral stack with a central window. The NW elevation of the projecting wing has five bays of paired windows with buttresses between and three gabled dormers above.

The SW return elevation of the Blount extension has an additional basement storey due to the sloping nature of the site, and has prominent gable dormers with mullioned and transomed windows. There is a cloister walk which projects into the gardens which has been partially enclosed; where it remains open it has a brick wall with some diaper pattern decoration, a quarry tile floor and open arcade of timber posts with arched braces. To the SE, where the extension joins the main convent building, there are varying levels with irregular fenestration, with most bays gabled, and some single storey projections at ground floor level, one with a pyramidal roof and louvered cupola. The SW end of this elevation has tall, lateral stacks and a six-light window with trefoil heads at first floor level signifying a chapel within. The principal, SW elevation is of two storeys plus basement and attic, with five gabled bays and the end bays projecting. The ground floor has large, mostly six-light windows, the upper floors being mostly paired windows. There is brick patterned decoration between the storeys which unifies the elevation. The NW bay has carved stone panels representing St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena.

The internal, cloister elevations are of two storeys plus attics. The ground floor, cloister windows are of two lights with cusped heads, all with leaded glass, and all with buttresses between. There is a tall tower to the SW with diaper pattern brickwork and religious iconography, with a crenellated parapet with corner gargoyles. A further tower in the N corner of the cloister has a saddleback roof with clocks in each gable above large, louvered openings in pointed arch surrounds. Above the cloister on the NE side are large, traceried windows lighting the library within. Above the SE side is the adjacent church.
INTERIOR: The convent and school are entered through the covered porch on the NE side, which gives access to a long corridor with a floor of Minton tiles. The decorative tiles, which continue throughout the ground floor and cloister, have central tiles with emblems showing the initials of St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena. There are pointed arch, panelled doors at various points along the corridor, with glazed upper panels with cusped heads. Doors giving access to rooms are also pointed arch, generally of six panels. Some rooms have large Gothic-style fireplace surrounds, generally tall and of painted stone, with differing detail in different rooms. There are two staircases at the northern end of the wing, one with timber chamfered balusters and newel posts with pointed finials.

The corridor which runs centrally along the projecting wing then joins with the cloister to the south via a flight of wide stairs, with moulded pointed arches at each corner of the cloister. The main sections of the cloister have ceilings with large, moulded timber beams supported on carved corbels, with blind arched panels on the rear walls beneath. Rooms off the cloister contain further carved fire surrounds; all rooms with pointed timber doors, panelled window shutters, timber sash windows etc. North of the cloister is a large library with a ceiling supported on large, corbelled beams with trefoil spandrels, and high level traceried windows. In the N corner of the cloister is a stair giving access to the upper floors which contain the sisters' cells and are understood to be mostly plain.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The grounds of the convent and school are bounded by a high brick wall with stone copings, with some arched gateways giving access.

History

Catholic worship on this site began with the founding of St Anne's Chapel, which was commissioned by the Blessed Dominic Barberi and designed by AWN Pugin. St Dominic's Convent and the Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Dominic were founded in 1852 by Mother Margaret Hallahan, and the convent was built 1852-3 to designs by Charles and Joseph Hansom. It was extended by Charles Hansom 1856-8, and again by Gilbert Blount 1861-3, at the same time as he was completing the church.

The main part of the building remains in use as a convent, and the northern part is in use as a school. The principal elements of the building appear to have been little altered on the whole since completion. The adjacent Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Dominic was given to the Diocese of Birmingham in 1968.

Reasons for Listing

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
St Dominic's Convent and Priory School, of 1852-63 by Charles Hansom, Joseph Hansom and Gilbert Blount, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: for the quality of its Gothic Revival design;
* Architects: the building was designed by noted architects who were prominent in Catholic ecclesiastical architecture;
* Interior: for the high degree of survival of internal features of note such as doors, staircases, floor tiles and fire surrounds.

External Links

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