St Joseph'S Convent South East Building

This is a house, built around 1810, that now serves as part of St Joseph’s Convent. It was originally known as Forebridge Villa and is located on Lichfield Road in Stafford. The building is of group value, representing a significant example of Regency architecture.

The exterior is stuccoed with ashlar dressings and has a hipped slate roof with stucco chimney stacks. The plan is a double-depth arrangement with a central staircase. The front elevation is symmetrical, featuring five windows across two storeys. Wide eaves are supported by scrolled brackets. A two-storey porch incorporates a portico with paired baseless columns, a frieze containing scrolled relief carving and a cross to the pediment. The front steps have flanking scrolled projections, while the round-headed entrance is framed by an architrave and a fanlight above a door with two tall round-headed panels, accompanied by stained glass return windows. Ground floor windows have 16-pane sashes, while those on the first floor have 4/8-pane sashes, except for the central window which has a simple architrave and small-paned casement.

The left return features a recessed centre with canted angles and an entrance with a consoled cornice and rich cresting; similar cornices and cresting flank the ground floor windows, and the central first-floor window has a balcony with a Greek key design. The right return has a rectangular oriel raised above the eaves on enriched brackets, again with wide bracketed eaves, and 20th-century casements. The rear includes a single-storey wing and a later three-storey wing with a cast-iron verandah featuring Tudor arches and quatrefoils. A late 20th-century lift shaft has a pyramidal roof.

The interior displays rich Greek detailing, including cornices, doorcases with architraves, enriched friezes and consoled cornices. A full-height hall has a balcony with balustrading and a skylight, while the staircase to the rear has iron anthemion balusters and a window with a painted glass roundel. The entrance hall contains contemporary painted glass displaying the arms of the original owner.

The house was taken over by the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny in 1907.