Convent of St Joseph and Precinct Walls, Lawrence Street, York

A convent built between 1870 and 1875 by George Goldie for the Order of Poor Clare Colletines. Constructed in common brick with blue-brick, orange-brick, and ashlar stone dressings, it has slate roofs and is designed in the Gothic Revival style.

Plan and Layout

The complex comprises a two-storey priests' house incorporating a carriage entrance that fronts the street. Behind this lies a small courtyard with a two-storey extern house on its east side and the liturgical west end of the church on its south side. The church features a dividing cross wall that equates to the liturgical east end, separating the public chapel (reached by the west doorway) from the enclosed choir, with a sanctuary on each side.

The sisters' house consists of three two-storey ranges arranged around an open cloistered quadrangle, with the fourth side completed by the church. The choir is accessed by a doorway off the cloister walk. All the primary buildings, associated structures, grounds, and the nuns' graveyard are contained within a tall perimeter wall.

Church Exterior

The liturgical west end (geographic north) of the church faces the small courtyard. Built of common brick with blue brick banding and ashlar dressings beneath a slate roof, its central doorway sits within a slightly projecting gabled porch with stepped ashlar coping. Above the door is a double, two-centred arched head of ashlar voussoirs with a tympanum featuring a relief-carved stone cross and herringbone orange brickwork. The double boarded doors have decorative iron hinges. Flanking the porch on each side is a large, plain lancet with ashlar head and sill, with a large oculus window above featuring geometrical timber glazing bars. Shallow angle buttresses stand at each outer edge.

Much of the seven-bay exterior is obscured. A small square bell-tower with pyramidal roof sits at the liturgical south-east corner, while a small transept with an oculus window and pitched slate roof projects from the third bay of the west elevation; the other transept is incorporated within the north range of the sisters' house.

Between the liturgical south elevation of the church and the west precinct wall are modern, single-storey, flat-roofed extensions set behind a timber and glazed screen facing the small courtyard.

Sisters' House Exterior

The sisters' house comprises three ranges around a cloistered quadrangle, all built of common brick with blue brick banding and ashlar dressings beneath double-pitched slate roofs. The ranges are two storeys with attics, and at the north end of the east range there is a basement beneath the kitchen.

The north range spans eight bays, abutting the church at the right-hand end, with the slightly projecting three-bay gable wall of the east range at the left-hand end. This gable wall features angle-buttresses and a central doorway (now blocked) with a two-centred arched overlight. Windows with two-centred arched heads flank the doorway, and between the blocked doorway and right-hand window is a narrow aperture.

In the fourth bay of the north range stands the entrance doorway leading through to the enclosure door that opens onto the cloister walk. Three ground-floor windows lie to the left and four to the right; presently the doorway and windows are largely obscured by a modern, flat-roofed timber and glazed extension, though the two-centred arched heads remain visible. Markings on the brickwork above the doorway indicate a formerly tall, steeply-pitched porch. The first-floor windows in the three bays of the gable wall and in bays one to three and five to eight of the north range are all small lancets set within larger blind arches. At the left-hand end, a tall wall of orange brick connects the house to workshop buildings to the east, featuring a wide carriage entrance with double boarded doors and a two-centred archway of ashlar voussoirs with an orange herringbone brick tympanum.

The east and south ranges face the enclosed grounds. They run for nine and ten bays respectively and feature a hipped roof at the south-east corner. Both are similarly detailed with ground-floor windows having two-centred arched heads of ashlar voussoirs and stone sills, and narrow rectangular first-floor windows with chamfered ashlar lintels and sills. Most ground-floor windows are three-over-three pane sashes with glazing bar overlights. The ground-floor windows to the kitchen at the north end of the east range have four-light casements with obscured glass in the lower panes and glazing bar overlights. Small square basement windows look into a narrow area with cast-iron railings. The first-floor windows are six-light casements with obscured glass in the lower panels. There are several small timber dormer windows; some have been lost and replaced by glazed roof lights.

Both ranges have a doorway in the fifth bay with a timber porch (shown on the 1931 Ordnance Survey map) and windows above lighting a staircase. The east range features paired two-centred arched windows set within a wider two-centred arch with an orange herringbone brick tympanum. The south range has a wide two-centred arch containing a later wide rectangular window. The south range also features a large eaves stack towards the right-hand end.

In the seventh and eighth bays are two narrow doorways with two-centred arched heads (relating to the chapter room). The timber and glazed double doors are recessed with glazing bar overlights and black and cream diamond tiling to the steps. Between the doorways projects a niche for a statue, and below lies a raised flowerbed. The ninth bay contains a wider first-floor window with a two-centred arched head lighting the first-floor corridor.

At the centre of the house lies an open quadrangle laid out as a garden and surrounded by an enclosed cloister walk. The ground floors of the west and north elevations project to form a wide first-floor balcony walkway with plain iron railings. Wide windows with two-centred arched heads of ashlar voussoirs light the ground-floor cloister walk. Projecting canted oratory chapels with pyramidal roofs stand at the centres of the north and south walls; their angled walls have narrow lancet windows, and the north oratory chapel features a central projecting niche for a statue. Doorways set into arches occupy the centres of the east and west walls; the plain boarded doors have partially glazed sidelights and glazing bar overlights. The first floor has narrow rectangular windows similar to those on the external elevations of the east and south ranges.

At the left-hand west end of the south range extends a two-storey range of several phases, indicated by changes in the brickwork's appearance. Its main elevation faces east and comprises six bays. The right-hand bay matches the detailing of the other main house elevations, but the five bays to the left differ. The fifth bay has a gable and a timber and leaded oriel window on the first floor. The first to fourth bays have large rectangular windows. At the left-hand south end stands a modern single-storey brick extension (infirmary).

Extern House Exterior

The main elevation faces west into the small courtyard. Of two storeys with an attic and five bays, it is built of common brick with blue brick bands beneath a hipped slate roof with two small timber dormer windows. A tall brick stack rises from the front and rear of the ridge between the third and fourth bays. The entrance doorway occupies the fifth bay with a timber and glass enclosed porch (shown on the 1931 Ordnance Survey map). The doorway has an arched head of ashlar voussoirs, with a boarded entrance door featuring a small iron grille closed by an internal sliding shutter, and a glazing bar overlight.

The ground-floor windows in the other four bays have two-centred arched heads with ashlar voussoirs and stone sills. The frames are three-over-three pane sashes with glazing bar overlights. The five first-floor windows are narrow rectangular openings with chamfered ashlar lintels and sills. The frames in the second to fifth bays are six-light casements above obscured glass lower panels; a single-pane light occupies the first-bay window, which lights the staircase.

The left-hand north end is buttressed, and at the centre of the north gable wall sits a shallow canted bay window relating to an oratory chapel. At the right-hand south end, a carriage entrance of common brick with a pitched slate roof links the externs' house to the left-hand side of the liturgical west end of the church; the carriage opening is now blocked. The ground floor of the east rear elevation has been extended outwards to form a wide first-floor balcony to four bays; the original arched ground-floor windows have been re-set in the extension. The first-floor window in the second bay has been altered to form a doorway.

Priests' House Exterior

The main elevation, fronting Lawrence Street, is of two storeys with an attic and five first-floor bays. Built of common brick with paired blue-brick bands at sill and lintel levels, it has a double-pitched slate roof with brick stacks to the left-hand gable and the ridge between bays four and five. The entrance doorway occupies the second bay, flanked by two windows, with a wide segmental-arched carriage entrance in the fourth and fifth bays. The first floor has five windows; the second-bay window above the doorway is narrower. All windows have brick segmental-arched heads and two-over-two pane sashes. The six-panelled door has a segmental-arched overlight. The segmental arch of the carriage entrance is infilled with a central ledge for a statue; there are double wooden doors. A single-storey service range stands against the left-hand east gable of the house, largely obscured behind the high precinct wall which continues to the east.

Church Interior

The interior has a boarded wagon vault roof with moulded tie-beams and curved ribs on timber corbels with slender turned and painted bolted king-posts. A full-height cross wall divides the space into a public chapel (analogous to the nave) and an enclosed choir; the walls are plastered and painted white.

The four bays of the public chapel are defined by arcades of full-height shallow arches with a dado rail and moulded string. Above the string, within the arches, are two-centred arched head clerestorey windows, except in the third bays, which have arches below the string opening into shallow transepts containing an altar and reredos to Mary (south) and the Sacred Heart (north). Above the transept arches, statues of praying angels stand on corbels. The fourth bay on the liturgical south side features a later wide opening with a curtained timber screen.

The walls of the three bays of the choir are plain with a string and similar windows at clerestorey level. The true south end has smaller blind paired lancet windows flanked by statues of angels holding candelabra standing on corbels. Vertically boarded dado panelling with fixed bench seating runs round the walls with hinged arms that lift up.

The cross wall features a later wide curtained timber screen (1973) with a painted revolving tabernacle to the centre. There is also a projecting baldacchino, rood, and altar on a plinth to each side.

Sisters' House Interior

The interior is largely as built and retains many original fixtures and fittings. At the centre of the north range, a short bisecting corridor contains an outer doorway and an inner enclosure door opening onto the cloister walk. Both doorways have two-centred arched heads and boarded double doors; the outer doorway has a tympanum with a stained glass cross in a roundel (boarded over on the outside), and the enclosure doorway has a boarded tympanum.

The cloister walk has plain boarded floors, with two-centred arches at the corner intersections, two statue niches in the west cloister walk, and plain boarded doors to the rooms opening off the walk. At the centres of the west and south cloister walks are open-well staircases to the first floor. Both have square chamfered newels and ramped slender moulded handrails with boarded balustrading.

On the ground floor of the north range are the parlours, with the sisters' parlour (in the north-west corner) separated by a wall with a curtained opening that replaces the original iron grille. To one side stands the original revolving cupboard, used to pass small objects between those from the community and the enclosed sisters.

The east range has the refectory on the south side of the staircase. It features wooden benches round the walls, boarded dado panelling, and niches for statues. On the north side of the staircase lies the kitchen, with a basement beneath, which is partially fireproof with brick jack-arches springing from iron beams.

The south range contains the Mother Abbess's room, which has a fireplace with a plain timber mantelpiece, and the chapter room, which features fixed wall benching and two fireplaces with similar plain timber mantelpieces.

On the first floor are small individual cells to each side of spine corridors. They have plain boarded doors with tilting rectangular overlights. Several gas light fittings survive on the ground and first floors. The roof structure over the east and south ranges uses queen post trusses, while the north range has a common rafter roof.

Externs' House Interior

The interior is largely as built and retains many original fixtures and fittings. The entrance doorway opens into a small hall with decorative tiling and timber and glazed double inner doors. The ground and first floors both have a spine corridor with rooms to each side, with an oratory chapel at the north end of the ground-floor corridor. An adjacent staircase occupies the north-west angle. The doors, staircase, and externs' cells on the first floor are similar in detailing to the main house. The attic has a series of rooms with boarded divisions and a queen post roof with iron fixings.

Priests' House Interior

Fixtures and fittings of interest include six-panelled doors, architraves, and a staircase with turned wooden balusters, moulded handrail, and turned newel posts with ball finials, now painted.

Precinct Walls

The convent is enclosed by brick precinct walls approximately five metres in height. Built of common brick in a variable English garden wall bond (usually 5:1) with a tile coping, they denote the phases of the precinct. The three major periods of eastward and southward expansion in 1884, 1902, and 1911 can be seen in straight joints in the walls.

The west end of the stretch of wall on Lawrence Street continues the blue brick banding of the priests' house as far as the doorway into the priests' walled garden. To the left the wall continues in plain brickwork, with some 20th-century rebuilding in engineering brick at its east end.

The original 1872 walls and the 1902 walls (which enclose the area to the south of the original diagonal south precinct wall) both have regularly spaced full-height gabled buttresses to the inner elevations. Each buttress features a two-centred arched niche which originally held a statue relating to the Stations of the Cross. The 1872 diagonal south precinct wall has been broken through in places and partially reduced in height.

Exclusions

The workshop to the rear of the extern house, the L-shaped group of two-storey and single-storey workshops built in several phases to the east of the extern house, and various other brick-built sheds and structures such as glasshouses and cold frame bases within the grounds are excluded from the designation as they are not of special interest.

Whilst it is not technically possible to exclude the modern single-storey additions to the sisters' house and church, these are not of special interest.