Stonyhurst College, South Front, Boys' Chapel and Shirk

Stonyhurst College comprises a substantial Roman Catholic boarding school complex with classrooms, playrooms, dormitories, chapels, libraries, former infirmary, communal areas, collection display rooms, archive stores and offices.

The Shirk building dates to 1799 and was erected for Father Charles Wright as the first building for the Jesuits at this location. It is a three-storey structure of coursed dressed sandstone with ashlar dressings, presenting three bays to the south front, two to the centre and three to the return. The south-facing front features a pedimented central element that breaks forward with chamfered quoins. Ground-floor windows have Gibbs surrounds, whilst upper floors have plain architraves. The first-floor features tripartite windows that are repeated on the second floor as Venetian windows. A semi-circular headed stair window appears on the right return. The building has a Welsh slate roof with a plain parapet and missing chimney stacks. The north-facing rear elevation is simpler in treatment, with one upper-floor tripartite window, whilst the west gable-end is blind. The interior ground-floor corridor features a stone flagged floor with two blocked tracery windows to the Bayley Room.

The South Front was constructed between 1875 and 1888 by Dunn & Hansom on the site of a demolished earlier front built around 1810. This substantial addition is executed in English Renaissance Revival style in sandstone ashlar with flat asphalt roofs and recessed lead rainwater goods. The composition comprises a central range of fifteen bays in three storeys, flanked by unmatched wings that break forward to enclose a wide forecourt. The west wing is eight bays over three storeys, whilst the east wing rises to four storeys over a basement and measures nine bays. Both elevations are richly detailed with moulded plinths, string courses, pilasters, strapwork friezes and pierced parapets. Windows feature mullions and transoms with projecting bays throughout.

A forward-breaking entrance block of five bays dominates the central range. At ground level it features an arcaded loggia, whilst the first floor contains the More Library with 24-light mullioned and transomed windows. Flanking octagonal turrets with copper domed cupolas mark this significant feature. A similar stair turret occurs to the west wing. The north elevation is rendered in plainer treatment. An east-facing oriel window was added to the east elevation in 1922 by Edmund Kirby as part of a First World War memorial scheme.

The Boys Chapel was completed in 1888 by Dunn & Hansom. This Gothic Revival structure sits at first-floor level between the west wing and central block. The principal west-facing elevation is expressed as two storeys above ground level. Ground-floor confessionals and sacristy are fronted by a flat-roofed element behind a battlemented parapet. Above this, set back, rise six four-light pointed windows with Perpendicular tracery, recessed within an outer arcade. Richly embellished pilasters support statues on plinths below traceried canopies at confessional level, these motifs carried upward to gargoyles at eaves level. Above the pierced battlemented parapet seated statues are displayed. The four-bay east elevation employs plainer fenestration with square-headed windows and incorporates Gothic Revival stepped buttresses with rich detail at parapet eaves level.

The interior of the South Front features longitudinal north corridors on ground and first floors, termed the Lower and Top Galleries respectively. These corridors have terrazzo floors, pitch pine six-panelled doors set in moulded architraves, and ceilings of tongue and grooved boards compartmentalised with moulded pine beams. At the west end, a Chapel Landing incorporates a timber open-well staircase with closed strings, square vase balusters and carved mythical beasts to the newels, fitted with moulded handrails and Hawksleys patent treads. A late-nineteenth-century Gothic niche to the north wall houses a statue of the Sacred Heart. Fine heraldic stained glass by Paul Woodroffe dating to around 1920 displays sixteenth-century style decorative plasterwork. A Bronze South Africa War Memorial also by Paul Woodroffe is set within wall panelling. Other staircases follow a similar though simpler design and feature arcaded landings. The east staircase walls display a collection of late-nineteenth-century memorials and a Gothic relief panel with traceried canopy. An ornate cast-iron radiator cover occupies the ground floor. At the east end of the Top Gallery, an apsidal projection contains the First World War memorial designed by Edmund Kirby & Sons in 1922, featuring a bas-relief crucifixion by Gilbert Ledward and stained glass by Patrick Feeny from 1993.

Classrooms and playrooms throughout contain pine beams supported on stone corbels and feature bolection moulded stone chimneypieces. The second-floor dormitory retains some pitch pine bed cubicles. A service staircase in the east wing is fitted with continuous handrail and lifting gear. The Academy Room in the east wing displays ornate plasterwork, a stage with raked seating and linenfold panelling, with a proscenium arch added in 1924. Music rooms in the basement retain some late-nineteenth-century pine and glass cubicles.

The former priests' accommodation in the west wing maintains a cellular plan with pine joinery and corridors featuring ribbed flat or vaulted plaster ceilings with cast-iron fireplaces set in marble chimneypieces. A timber spiral staircase with cast-iron twisted balusters connects the floors. The former washing place, now known as the Campion Room, is distinguished by octagonal pine columns supporting a compartmentalised pine ceiling with an arcaded wall to the corridor. The Angel Chapel contains 1930s stained glass.

The Boys Chapel interior is accessed through a rich Gothic stone ogee aedicule with pinnacles surmounting a pair of pointed doorways. An oak organ loft spans the narthex with a traceried arcade, whilst linenfold panelling adorns the gallery. The seven-bay roof features timber fan-vaulting over the nave and sanctuary. Four traceried oak oriel windows flanked by stone statuary are positioned at upper level on the liturgical north wall for use by the Jesuit community. A richly carved Gothic-style marble high altar and reredos by Hansom incorporates a tabernacle by Father Vaughan and gesso paintings depicting the life of Saint Aloysius by Percy Bacon, set within carved oak panels. Oak altar rail and pews complement a parquet floor. The sacristy features an oak panelled dado and door.