St Dominic's Convent and Priory School and boundary walls

St Dominic's Convent and Priory School

A convent and priory school built in two phases: the main structure erected in 1852-3 and 1856-8 by Charles Hansom and Joseph Hansom, with a substantial extension added in 1861-3 by Gilbert Blount. The buildings were commissioned for Mother Margaret Hallahan.

The convent is constructed of red brick with stone dressings to windows and slate roofs. The main part of the convent is arranged around a cloister, which attaches to the Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Dominic to the south-east. Blount's later extension projects from the northern corner toward the north-west.

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

The south-west return elevation of the Blount extension includes an additional basement storey due to the sloping site. It features prominent gable dormers with mullioned and transomed windows. A cloister walk projects into the gardens and has been partially enclosed; where it remains open, it displays a brick wall with diaper pattern decoration, a quarry tile floor and an open arcade of timber posts with arched braces. To the south-east, where the extension joins the main convent building, varying levels and irregular fenestration occur, with most bays gabled and some single-storey projections at ground floor level, including one with a pyramidal roof and louvered cupola. The south-west 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 south-west elevation is two storeys plus basement and attic, with five gabled bays and projecting end bays. The ground floor features large, mostly six-light windows, while upper floors are mostly paired windows. Brick patterned decoration between the storeys unifies the elevation. The north-west bay contains carved stone panels representing St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena.

The internal cloister elevations are two storeys plus attics. Ground floor cloister windows are of two lights with cusped heads, all with leaded glass and all with buttresses between. A tall tower to the south-west features diaper pattern brickwork and religious iconography, with a crenellated parapet and corner gargoyles. A further tower in the north 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 north-east side are large, traceried windows lighting the library within. Above the south-east side is the adjacent church.

Entry to the convent and school is through the covered porch on the north-east 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, feature central tiles with emblems showing the initials of St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena. Pointed arch, panelled doors at various points along the corridor have glazed upper panels with cusped heads. Doors giving access to rooms are also pointed arch, generally of six panels. Some rooms feature large Gothic-style fireplace surrounds, generally tall and of painted stone, with differing detail in different rooms. Two staircases at the northern end of the wing include one with timber chamfered balusters and newel posts with pointed finials.

The corridor running centrally along the projecting wing joins 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 feature pointed timber doors, panelled window shutters and timber sash windows. 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 north 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.

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