White Lodge, St Mary's Convent

White Lodge, St Mary's Convent

A priests' house built in 1898–1899 and designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott for the chaplain to the Convent of St Mary at Wantage.

The building consists of a gabled range running from north-west to south-east, constructed of brick walling with colourwashed render and stone dressings, beneath a plain tile roof. The entrance front faces north-east with service rooms and a service yard to the west. The sitting room and dining room face south over the garden and are separated by wide doors that allow them to be opened into one another. A study occupies the eastern garden side, while a small chapel stands to the north with its altar oriented to the east. The house rises to two storeys with attic accommodation.

The exterior displays an exposed brick plinth with roughcast walling above. Mullioned windows feature flush stone surrounds, leaded lights and metal-framed casements. Ground floor windows are wide—of four or six lights with staggered joints to the lintels of the widest openings. The walls are gently battered and the chimney stacks are tapered.

The entrance front is dominated by a cluster of three overlapping gables at its centre. The entrance door sits to the left of this feature, with a sunken semi-circular panel above. Ground floor windows contain two, three or six lights, with the kitchen window set lower. First floor windows vary from one to four lights, and a two-light attic casement appears in the right-hand gable. The chapel at the far left has lower eaves than the main house and a three-light window; its eastern gable end is surmounted by a stone cross. Rainwater hoppers are moulded with emblems symbolic of the convent's dedication to St Mary: lilies on the entrance front and the letter 'M' on the garden front.

The garden front comprises a recessed section at left with lower ridge connecting to the service yard wall, and a projecting main front to the right. The deep roof of the gabled wing at left of centre extends to ground floor level, covering an external porch with a door to the dining room. Both the dining room and library feature square bay windows with flat roofs; timber mouldings at their forward edges have deep cyma profiles. Three prominent, lofty chimneys rise from the ridge at left, the right gable end and project from the garden front.

The entrance door leads to a lobby with a further door to the house, flanked by internal windows containing stained glass panels showing stylised plants. Throughout the building, doors retain original beaten copper lock plates and metal handles.

The sitting room contains a stylised inglenook hearth with fixed settle and Delft tiles behind a beaten copper fire hood. A small stained glass window showing plant forms is set on the south side of the hearth. A plate shelf encircles the room, tying its elements together. Moulded double doors open to the dining room, which has a window seat built into its projecting square bay. The inglenook on the western wall has fixed seats on either side, each cut with heart shapes. The hearth has a semi-circular opening and beaten copper fire hood.

The study to the east features an inglenook fireplace with copper fire hood, firebasket and fire dogs that appear to be original and designed by Baillie Scott. All three ground floor copper fire hoods are ornamented with a central heart surrounded by flowers and leaves, emblematic of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The chapel or oratory has a panelled ceiling with wooden beams and a tiled floor to the chancel. Its eastern window, representing the Virgin and Child in stained glass, was designed by Florence Camm or Baillie Scott.

A wide staircase separates from the sitting room by a wooden screen with repeating cut-out flower designs and a segment-headed opening. Newel posts have tall tapering finials, and decorative cut-out flower patterns feature in the balustrade.

The principal bedroom contains a barrel-vaulted ceiling and a panelled bed alcove with glazed cupboards to either side. The fire surround is of stone with an inlaid diamond panel of grey-green stone bordered with a chequerboard of black and white.

The kitchen and store rooms, and the small study to the right of the entrance hall (formerly a pantry), have been altered from their original appearance, though their overall plan remains largely unchanged.