The Deanery (No 10) And Office (10A) With Attached Walls

The Deanery (No. 10) and Office (No. 10A) with attached walls, Worcester

This house, now serving as a Deanery and office, dates from around 1700 with earlier origins. It was extended around 1870 to the left and rear, with the later additions and alterations commissioned for Canon Alfred Barry by architect A E Perkins. The building is constructed onto part of 13th-century remains of Worcester Castle.

The main range is built of red brick in Flemish bond with pinkish-brown brick to the left section. It features stone sills, hipped plain tile roofs, and tall brick stacks that are banded with stepped oversailing courses and pots. The main range has lateral and rear stacks, while the left range has a rear stack.

The building comprises two storeys plus an attic. The main range has five first-floor windows, whilst the left range of three storeys has one first-floor window. A moulded plinth runs along the main range. A continuous first-floor band, moulded at the right, extends across the frontage. Windows are predominantly 6/6 sashes in flush frames with flat arches of gauged brick and sills; a 2/2 sash appears to the second floor at the left. The roofline is finished with crowning modillion eaves. The main range features three box dormers with 3/3 sashes.

The main entrance to the central range is a six-panel door with lower panels flush beaded and upper panels raised and fielded, set within a plain architrave and featuring an overlight with margin-lights. This entrance is housed within a projecting porch with tooled pilasters, frieze and cornice. The left range has an off-centre right entrance: a four-raised-and-fielded-panel door with overlight and hood on corbel brackets.

The rear elevation is raised on a five-bay blind arcade of coursed stone said to form part of Worcester Castle. The segmental arches probably date from the early 18th century when the terrace was built, the wall having served as a revetment to a former medieval structure. The rear contains some tall 2/4 sashes alongside 6/6 and 9/9 sashes.

Internally, the hallway has a stone flagged floor. The dogleg staircase extends to full height with a closed string and moulded ramped handrail. From ground to first floor it features substantial barleytwist-on-vase balusters, then rod-on-bobbin balusters at two per tread. Two-raised-and-fielded-panel doors in panelled reveals are found throughout. The ground floor front room to the right contains a marble fireplace with cast-iron Victorian grate, with a late Victorian fireplace at the rear and a further Neo-classical Revival fireplace. Four eight-raised-and-fielded-panel doors are present. The first floor front room features a fitted cupboard with S- and H-hinges and doors made from probably 17th-century panelling. Various rooms contain four-panel doors, some with moulded cornices, and a Regency marble fireplace. Shutters remain to some windows.

The stone-walled basement includes a fine late 16th-century ovolo moulded door surround with urn stops. The basement features stone walling and 18th-century brick vaulting.

Subsidiary features include a kitchen garden wall and front boundary wall at the left, approximately 3 metres high. The coped stone walls flanking the rear garden are late medieval in date and form part of the wall listed under Kleve Walk.

Historically, the south side of College Green comprised service buildings to the medieval monastery, and this dwelling probably occupies the site of the bakehouse. By 1820 the Dean and Chapter had let it to Elizabeth Marriott, then to Henry Grape. From around 1821 to 1870 it was sub-let to Frances Maria Kilvert. In 1870 it was enlarged for Canon Alfred Barry, son of architect Charles Barry, who borrowed money from Queen Anne's Bounty to finance the work.

All listed buildings in College Green form a significant group providing the setting for Worcester Cathedral to the north.