Mary Sumner House

Mary Sumner House

Headquarters of the Mother's Union, located at the corner of Tufton Street and Great Peter Street. Built in 1925 and designed by Claude W. Ferrier, FRIBA, with the builder Perry & Co (Bow) Ltd. The building was opened on 21 July by The Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles. The stone was laid on 18 July 1923 by Louisa Gore-Brown, daughter of Mary Elizabeth Sumner, founder of the Mother's Union.

The building is constructed in rusticated stone, red-brown brick, red brick and stone dressings, with slate mansard roofs. It comprises four storeys with attics and basements. The rusticated stone ground floor features a continuous fluted band running across all elevations and a deep modillion cornice above the second floor.

The corner site has an offset with a shop entrance in a square opening, flanked by a pair of part-glazed oak doors beneath an overlight. Above the doors is a terracotta panel depicting the Annunciation in the manner of Della Robbia, with a moulded cornice and brackets. A large stone cartouche, inscribed "The Mary Sumner House 1925", spans two storeys above. A tall stack with red brick diaper work on a moulded stone base rises above a raised brick panel at the third floor.

On Tufton Street (nine and a half bays), a tripartite shop window with slender glazing bars and small-paned metal overlights sits beneath a stone keystone and a band inscribed "The Mother's Union". Above are a pair of tripartite stone mullioned windows with stone keystones, with raised basement windows below. The main entrance to No. 24 is flanked by tall square-headed windows: the left with small panes, the right with coloured glass in memory of Mother's Union members who died as a result of enemy action during 1939-45. Inscribed panels below each window record these dedications. The entrance itself is square-headed beneath a keystone, with a narrow overlight above a cornice on moulded brackets, surmounting a pair of oak doors with fielded panels and circular brass knockers and letter boxes. A fluted band above the entrance is inscribed "The Mary Sumner House". Upper floors contain small-paned metal casement windows (top-hung) with blind recesses in the outer bay. Six flat-headed dormers, alternating between single and two-light designs, are arranged across the mansard roof. A tall end stack is positioned at the corner.

On Great Peter Street (six bays), the treatment is similar, with a wide shop window beneath a band inscribed "The Mother's Union", a tripartite stone mullioned window above a raised basement window, and a service entrance with a pair of oak panelled doors. Upper floors and dormers match those on Tufton Street, with four dormers total (the third being two-light). Two stacks are positioned—one at the gable, one midway.

Interior features an open well staircase extending from basement to roof, with iron balusters marked by storey, a moulded oak rail, and a curtail in the basement. A similarly detailed back stair occupies a smaller well.

The Chapel contains a nine-bays oak screen with traceried panels, now repositioned at the roadside end following works recorded in 1985 when the side wall was squared off and glass panels installed. The sanctuary features a vaulted ceiling with flanking circular windows containing coloured glass: to the left depicting Hilda of Whitby, to the right depicting Mother Julian of Norwich. A window in memory of those who gave their lives in service during 1939-45 is signed with a figure of a monk in cowl, dated 1951. The organ dates to 1935.

The Assembly Room is accessed through two pairs of oak part-glazed doors. It comprises three bays with pilasters and brackets supporting ceiling joists, and raised panelled walls. A stage is flanked by doorways in facetted moulded architraves, each with a panelled oak door and a tall frieze with rectangular ventilation panels above.

The Sumner Room (formerly Committee Room One) comprises four bays with simple classical detail, partly reordered. Windows contain leaded glazing with coloured margins depicting the arms of Munster, Ulster, Leinster and Connaught, replaced following bomb damage.

The former library is set at an angle to the street corner and is partly supported on two octagonal piers. It contains an angle chimney piece with an oak overmantle (remainder obscured) and was donated by a benefactor from Western Australia.

The Princess Mary Room features an angle chimney piece with a simple painted moulded architrave and green and cream glazed tiles with chevron edging, together with a small iron fireplace. The floor is laid in parquetry. The room contains memorabilia including a picture of the former chapel reredos.

The Hostel (formerly the president's residence) contains a door of two raised and fielded panels with a letter box and a simple painted moulded mantelpiece. It has been subdivided and includes a canted stairwell with a coloured leaded glass window on the first floor landing, inscribed as replacing one destroyed in air raids that originated from St Jude's Church, Whitechapel. Doors throughout are either oak and part-glazed or painted, some with raised and fielded panels, others part-glazed.

The shop features a pair of oak-clad octagonal piers flanking an alcove with a depressed arched head. Flanking doorways have architrave mouldings matching the windows. Panelled walls include one that has been reclad.