Albans (Girl'S Hall Of Residence), At Haileybury And Imperial Service College

The Albans, a girls' hall of residence at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, was originally built as a sanitorium in 1867, with an east wing added in 1894. This large, three-storey building features a striking polychrome Venetian Gothic style and is topped with hipped slate roofs. The symmetrical façade includes broad projecting wings and a more elaborate central section that has a one-storey parapeted porch. Atop the building is a large square louvred cupola with a gilded vane.

The walls are constructed of red brick, accented with regular bands of dark brick. The building has an offset plinth and a moulded eaves band supported by stone corbels. Stone string courses run at cill level on each floor and at the impost level of the top floor. The windows are paired lancets with Venetian arches, featuring a drip band and some voussoirs made of dark brick. The upper two floors have round-headed recessed sash windows, while the ground floor showcases windows with roll-moulded lintels and herringbone brick tympanums.

The central projection of the building has reserved corners with angle-stone detailing at the top, a carved stone string at the first-floor impost level, and stone shafts with annulets, carved bases, and foliate capitals in the three-light top window. The entrance is a crocketed arch with a mosaic tympanum, a carved brick arch with stone drips and imposts, and nook shafts, although the doorway has been blocked and converted into a window. The later east wing maintains a similar polychrome treatment but lacks the moulded stonework, featuring three grouped windows on each floor of its projection. Overall, this building is an impressive and elaborate example of a Victorian school sanitorium.