High Mistress's House

High Mistress's House, Brook Green, Rowan Road No 48

A house built in 1913 for the High Mistress of St Paul's Girls School, designed by Gerald Horsley, the architect of the school itself (built 1904-1907) and the Gustav Holst Music Wing (built 1913).

The building is a two-storey red brick structure of three principal bays, with a fourth bay to the north that interconnects with the Gustav Holst Music Wing, which is separately listed at Grade II. It has a steep hipped slate roof and tall end stone-capped chimney stacks. The design combines restrained Queen Anne detailing, evident in the segmental hood over the door and hipped dormer windows, with hints of Arts and Crafts style in the tall chimneys and tile-hung full-height bays. A notable feature is the high standard of craftsmanship throughout: the five dated hoppers from 1913 exemplify the care taken over detail. The rear elevation includes windows and a single door with prominent stone keystones to gauged brick segmental arches, a full-height bow window to the south, and the connecting bay to the music wing, which has a later first-floor extension. This extension, though of lesser architectural interest, does not diminish the overall quality of the building.

Internally, the plan form remains largely unaltered except for the small extension to the first-floor room of the connecting block and the opening through of the southernmost ground and first-floor rooms to create large reception rooms. Four fireplaces survive in principal rooms, alongside cornices, skirting boards, picture rails, window casings and doors throughout. The original staircase remains extant with an open well, large square newel posts, a broad moulded handrail and turned balusters. The brass window and door fittings are particularly elegant and survive throughout the house.

The Edwardian garden, also designed by Horsley and included in his original plans, survives substantially intact with low brick walls creating a sunken section centred on a sundial, surrounded by terracing. The survival of this composition, integral to the overall design of the house, enhances its special interest.

Since 1913, few alterations have occurred and the footprint remains unchanged.

Gerald Horsley was a pupil of Norman Shaw and one of the founders of the Art Workers' Guild in 1884, an organisation which promoted the interdependence of the arts through lectures and discussions to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas between artists, designers, craftsmen and architects. He was the son of John Calcott Horsley RA, a well-known painter. Other listed buildings by Horsley include Frame Wood Manor in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire (Grade II), Hatch End and Harrow and Wealdstone Railway Stations (both Grade II) and the Church of St Chad in Longston, Staffordshire (Grade II*). His principal work was St Paul's Girls' School, for which he won a competition in 1897.

The house is of special architectural interest for the quality of design in both overall composition and detail. The understated references to Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts styles are particularly fine, revealing the architect's skill. These are enhanced by high-quality details including the dated hoppers and elegant brass fittings. The group value is very strong: the house is integral to the school complex as a whole, interconnecting seamlessly with the contemporary Gustav Holst Music Wing, itself connected to the main school building, all Grade II listed.