Presbytery to the Roman Catholic Church of St Saviour

Presbytery to the Roman Catholic Church of St Saviour

This two-storey presbytery was completed in 1923 and designed by the Preston-based architects WC and JH Mangan for the Diocese of Portsmouth. It is constructed in stretcher-bond brick with brick and tile detailing, topped by hipped tile roofs and a brick stack.

The building has a roughly L-shaped footprint and sits on a raised plot, accessed from the driveway by steps leading to a single-storey flat-roof entrance porch on the west side.

The ground-floor windows are a notable feature, consisting of single, double, triple and quadruple lights divided by brick mullions. The openings are topped by panels with oversized splayed brick and tile arches arranged in a sun-burst motif. The first-floor windows are plainer, comprising single, two and three-light casements. All windows now contain late 20th-century leaded uPVC double-glazed casements. The porch entrance arch has been infilled with a later uPVC door and is topped by a brick arch in similar style to the window decoration. A double band of slightly projecting brick headers runs around the building at first-floor level, incorporating tile quoins and a tile cruciform motif above the main entrance. The south elevation includes a ground-floor box window, and there is a short brick wall attached to the lower rear eastern wing.

Internally, the entrance porch leads through to a central hallway surrounded by rooms on three sides. The building retains six-panel doors with brass furniture in simply moulded architraves throughout. Ground-floor rooms and hallway contain skirting, picture rails and decorative plaster borders to the ceilings. There are two early 20th-century fireplaces: the study fireplace is boarded-up but retains its decorative timber surround, while the living room has a grey-stone fireplace with timber surround, mantel shelf and mirrored over-mantle. Inbuilt wooden cupboards and shelving survive in the study and dining room. The central dogleg staircase features a rounded teak timber handrail with scroll end at the bottom and a stick banister around the first-floor landing. A loft hatch sits above the landing. First-floor rooms have skirting, and one bedroom contains a timber chimney surround with boarded-up fireplace.

Note: late 20th-century single-storey pitched-roof brick garages are not included in the listing.