Former House of Mercy, now known as St Michael's House

Former House of Mercy, now St Michael's House

This large Gothic-style building was designed by Henry Woodyer and built in 1859 as a House of Mercy. It is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond with brick dressings, and roofed with plain red clay tiles. The building was extended in 1864 with the addition of the south and east wings, the latter containing the chapel, matching the original style. Two contemporary subsidiary ranges adjoin the building on the north-west side.

The building is arranged on a cruciform plan and rises to two storeys with an attic lit by rows of sharply angled gabled dormers, mostly of two lights with plain bargeboards. The steeply pitched roofs are surmounted by plain brick chimney stacks with circular pots and have moulded brick cornices under the eaves. The base of the building has a plinth with a slight batter and a moulded brick band above, punctuated at irregular intervals by buttresses with offsets.

The fenestration consists mostly of narrow pointed arch windows with diamond leaded lights in combinations of lancets, pairs or groups of three with brick mullions. The windows have gauged brick arches, and those in pairs and groups also have relieving brick arches. Decorative cast-iron rainwater goods bearing the dates 1859 and 1863 are retained.

The two principal elevations are formed by the coherent handling of adjoining sides of the wings. The east side of the south wing with the south side of the east wing is dominated by a circular stair tower with a conical roof and bell-cote positioned in the angle of the wings and providing access to the chapel. To the left is a plank and batten door with decorative strap hinges set within a brick Gothic arch. To the right is a wide projecting chimney breast with tumbled-in brickwork rising through the roof verge. The ground floor is lit by pairs of windows and the first floor by lancets.

The south side of the west wing with the west side of the south wing has the ground floor lit by pairs or groups of windows, whilst the first floor is lit by a row of continuous gabled dormers in which the windows are positioned across the eaves. In the angle of the two wings at first-floor level is an asymmetrical corbelled mullioned window. At the far left of the south side of the west wing is a projecting stepped chimney breast with tumbled-in brickwork and a tall square angled stack. To the right is another plank and batten door under a Gothic relieving arch, similar to that already described.

The gable end of the west wing is lit by two groups of three windows on the ground floor and three groups of windows above, the latter set within recessed Gothic arches. To the left is a plank and batten door under a Gothic relieving arch in which fleur-de-lys tiles are set.

Adjoining the gable end is a high wall enclosing a service yard behind the two subsidiary buildings. The two-storey building in the north-west corner has been considerably altered with the addition of a central gabled bay and large square windows without glazing bars, dating to the second half of the 20th century. The second two-storey L-shaped building to the east has also been refenestrated but the original Gothic openings remain.

The north elevation of the west wing, which is obscured by these two buildings, has the same treatment as the south elevation with rows of dormers at first-floor and attic level and a corbelled dormer in the angle.

The north wing's east elevation has a single-storey lean-to projection, above which are a series of tall dormers with paired lancets. The east wing is lit on the ground floor partly by large square multi-pane windows with flat brick arches. The gable end has diagonal buttresses and tall buttresses with offsets. It is dominated by a trefoil-headed three-light chapel window with straight-edged intersecting tracery, and the two side aisles under a lower roof are lit by lancet windows.

The interior is fairly plain and has been little altered apart from some fire doors and modern kitchen facilities in the former service rooms in the north wing. Many plank doors, fireplaces and simple window furniture are retained. The ground-floor corridors have exposed ceiling joists, arched wooden braces at intervals and matchboard cladding to dado height.

The former refectory on the ground floor of the east wing is entered through a Gothic arch doorway and has exposed chamfered bridging beams and joists, matchboard cladding to dado height and a substantial stone fireplace with a large hood.

Most other ground-floor rooms, likely to have been communal rooms and sitting rooms, have fireplaces in a variety of styles. Two are of stone with a trefoil-shaped opening and cast-iron grate: one is not accessible but the other bears the date 1858 and has a tiled back and cheeks with yellow and red fleur-de-lys tiles. Another stone fireplace has attached shafts and shaped brackets supporting the mantelshelf with recessed quatrefoils in the corner of the frieze. Others are small wooden fireplace surrounds. The internal treatment becomes increasingly simple on each floor, with some first-floor rooms retaining plain wooden fireplace surrounds and cast-iron grates.

The most notable room is the chapel on the first floor of the east wing. This has arcades of dark wood with arcaded screens separating the choir from the aisles on each side; these screens incorporate collegiate-style stalls and a two-seat sedilia at the east end. The screens and stalls are returned at the west end with wooden gates, and there is a small gallery above. The capitals of the arcades are painted and patterned, as are the cornices and top rails of the screens. Small trefoil lights set in gablets act as a clerestory. There is no reredos, but the three-light east window containing stained glass is set high above the altar with a painted arcade on either side containing figures of saints.

To the north-west is a single-storey outbuilding with a rectangular plan and pitched roof clad in plain tiles. The south gable end has wide double-leaf plank and batten doors under a timber lintel, opening into a large room. The long east elevation contains two plank and batten doors with ventilation grilles above, serving two smaller rooms which retain brick-lined floors. On the north gable end, a brick lean-to extension with a corrugated iron roof has been added at some point in the 20th century.