St Alban's House (Now Part of King's School)

St Alban's House, Worcester

A building of mid-18th-century origin, later extensively developed, now forming part of King's School. Originally assembly rooms and a fashionable resort, the structure became St Alban's Home for orphan and destitute girls around 1859 following its purchase by Miss Cordelia Stillingfleet, who founded the institution and added a chapel in 1873. By the early 20th century it operated as a Church of England orphanage before its conversion to junior school use by 1961.

The building is constructed of red brick with a plain clay tile roof. It is L-shaped in plan, with a lower-roofed wing extending to the south and east, and a chapel to the north that forms a semi-enclosed courtyard to the rear. Small square brick stacks cap the front roof slope, while larger brick stacks to the rear feature oversailing detail and pots.

The main west front rises to two storeys with an attic. An off-centre break-forward to the left is capped by a parapeted gable with brick coping and a blind lunette window. The front has four first-floor windows, with that to the right set at a lower level. A Venetian window with sashes of 4/4:6/6:4/4 glazing lights the ground floor of the break-forward; a similar style window above is blind and painted. A further 6/6 sash sits to the right of the ground floor. All windows are set near-flush with brick arched heads, save where otherwise stated. A hipped dormer to the right contains side-hung casements.

The right return features Venetian windows. The first-floor example has a 12/6 centre sash with Gothic tracery in the upper glazing bars, flanked by 3-pane side-lights; the ground-floor window is 9/6 with rectilinear glazing bars and matching side-lights. The south-east wing displays four first-floor 6/6 sashes. A simple bracketed canopy flanks a central entrance door with panelling and a 3-pane overlight; a further 6/6 sash lies to its left. Three gabled dormers with side-hung casements break the roofline.

The interior retains significant original fabric. The staircase features slender turned balusters with knops, a moulded handrail, and square newel posts. Raised and fielded two and four-panel doors with L-hinges survive, along with some cornices, a red and black ceramic-tiled floor, and painted timber fireplaces with cast-iron grates. A brick-arched cellar completes the basement.

The chapel incorporates exposed rafters with painted decoration, red and black ceramic-tiled flooring, and a complete scheme of stencilled decoration to the east end, encompassing the stained glass window and reredos.

The building's L-shaped plan is documented on both the 1779 map by George Young and the 1832 map by Crisp, occupying the south-west corner of its plot with the remaining area identified as Diglis Bowling Green. By 1886, the west-east wing had been extended eastward and the chapel appeared on the Ordnance Survey map. The site was historically known for its fashionable 18th-century resort character, featuring a bowling green and assembly rooms where "the gentlemen joined the ladies in a dance in the long room on the ground floor."