St Marys Convent School And Attached Wall With Railings And Gates

St Mary's Convent School is a house that has been converted into a school, built in 1880 by George Lethbridge for LM Casella, with a mid-20th century chapel added later. The building is constructed of orange brick, featuring high-quality gauged and rubbed brickwork for its detailing and decoration. It has a tiled hipped roof with decorative cresting, dormers, tall slab end stacks, and an ogee domed belvedere with an oculus on a small stair tower. The eaves cornice is moulded brick.

The exterior consists of three storeys and attics with an irregular frontage of four bays. The central porch has arcaded openings in an Elizabethan-inspired style, also made of gauged and rubbed brickwork, and is topped with a terracotta balustrade. To the right is a double-height bay, and to the left is a double-height canted bay, both featuring panelled pilasters, keystones, a floor cornice, and enriched aprons with swags and masks, all crowned by balustrades above the top floor windows. The windows are sash style, with patterned glazing in the top lights and moulded architraves. The central first-floor sashes have enriched pediments.

Inside, the school retains good quality features and has seen little alteration, including panelling and tiled floors. The property also has a subsidiary feature, which is an attached brick boundary wall in stepped sections, complete with piers and panels, cast-iron railings, and cast and wrought-iron gates.

Historically, this house was very expensive to build, costing nearly £10,000, which is reflected in the fine quality of the brickwork. LM Casella was the inventor of the clinical thermometer, and his family sold the house in 1927 to St Mary's Convent School, which is its current owner. The 20th-century extensions added by St Mary's Convent School, apart from the chapel, are not considered of special interest.