Lodge To The Towers (Shirley Institute) And Attached Gatepier

The lodge to The Towers, now known as the Shirley Institute, was built between 1868 and 1872 by Thomas Worthington for J.E. Taylor. It is constructed of red brick with sandstone dressings and features a slate roof. The building has an L-shaped plan, with the main range oriented north-south and a short set-back wing on the west side, which includes a porch at the angle. Designed in the French Gothic style, it showcases very steeply pitched roofs and tall chimneys. The lodge is one-and-a-half storeys high, with the wing being lower.

The front features a rectangular open-arcaded porch with two arches facing the front and one arch on the side, supported by short stout columns with foliated caps and moulded two-centred arches. There is a drip band and a coped parapet above the porch. A bracketed brick band runs along the main range, which slightly oversails at the upper storey. Each floor has one cross-window, with the upper window breaking through the eaves and rising into a gablet. The roof is a very steeply pitched hipped roof that sweeps over the eaves. There is a tall coupled side-wall chimney and a similar chimney at the junction with the wing. The wing features a banded gable wall with a cross-window at ground level and a cusped oculus near the apex. Additionally, there is a banded gate-pier attached to the north-west corner by a short wall.