Herne Hill School And Attached Walls And Terraces

Herne Hill School, formerly a vicarage to St Paul’s Church, was built around 1860. The design is attributed to RW Drew. The building is constructed of red brick in English bond, with red brick diapering and segmental relieving arches over most of the openings. Flush stone surrounds flat- and pointed-arched openings. The roof is tiled. It is an example of the High Victorian Gothic style.

The garden elevation has a two-window range over two storeys, with attic dormers to the right. The left side of the first floor is blank, terminating in a facing gable with a triple window featuring pointed lancets. The first-floor windows have pointed arches, one being a double window. Flat-arched French doors open onto a terrace enclosed by stone walls, believed to be original to the building. Two hipped dormers are located to the east of the gable. The west-facing elevation includes a full-height canted bay and stone and brick flushwork spandrels to the first-floor windows, with an iron finial on the hipped bay roof. The east elevation is partially obscured, with stacks along the east wall aligned with the stair hall. The north-facing elevation is divided into two gable-facing ranges. The left range has a two-window range with a gable peak. A lean-to porch features triple windows and a pointed diaphragm arch, with a two-light mullioned window to its left. A further two-light Y-tracery mullioned window on the first floor illuminates the stair hall. A triple window is located just below the gable peak. The right range has no windows and is dominated by a full-height chimney stack. A sill band runs to the first-floor windows, and a continuous brick cornice runs across the elevations.

The interior features a full-height stair hall with a cantilevered open-well stair, with newel posts topped by quatrefoil crosses. Door cases off the stair hall are made from plainly chamfered and painted wood, a detail anticipating the Arts and Crafts work of the 1870s. The ground floor fireplaces incorporate finely carved Gothic ornament. The upstairs rooms are more simple in design. The building forms a group with St Paul's Church, Herne Hill, designed by Street.