Main School Buildings At St Edmund'S College (Rc)

The main buildings of St Edmund’s College (Roman Catholic) were constructed in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The main block dates from 1795 to 1799 and the refectory building from 1805, both designed by James Taylor of Islington. The college was formed in 1793 through the amalgamation of the Old Hall Green Academy (Roman Catholic) and refugees from the English College at Douai, founded in 1568.

The buildings are constructed of yellowish-grey brick with a stone plinth and first-floor band. Hipped slate roofs cover the main block, while the refectory and lower wings are faced with darker grey and dark red brick respectively. The main, symmetrical block is three storeys and has attics, with a 15-window frontage facing east. The central three windows project and are topped by a dentilled pediment with an oculus, fronted by a 19th-century three-bay arched brick portico with a glass roof. Composite pilasters and a cornice, featuring four balls on pedestals, adorn the portico, with similar balls on pedestals also present in the pierced brick parapet above the dentilled cornice.

The ground floor features round-headed sash windows at each end, set within round-headed panels with keystones and alternating voussoirs of vermiculated Coade stone rustication, mirroring the central three openings. Recessed sash windows with segmental arches are on the upper floors, with the central window and the penultimate window at each end having heavily moulded surrounds. The west elevation is plainer, featuring a central pediment with a clockface topped by a cupola, along with projecting rear wings, which reduce the frontage to nine windows.

Low wings, dating circa 1845, extend to the north and south, linking to the refectory. The northern wing is a high, single-storey structure with a steep slate roof behind a high parapet, featuring Gothic style three-light mullioned windows with labels. The southern wing is raised to two storeys and incorporates matching windows. The refectory is at a right angle to the west front and adjoins the southern wing, rising to two storeys and attics, with a lofty ground floor partly sunken. It has six sash windows, with round-headed windows below a stone floor band and segmental-headed windows above, featuring 6/6 panes. The rear portion of the original block’s ground floor is a stone-floored circulation space or ambulacrum incorporating a procession of painted medieval figures, reportedly designed by Fuhrich of Vienna.