Box Hill School

Box Hill School is a large house, dating to 1883 and built as a wedding present for the daughter of D H Evans, the owner of the Oxford Street store. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, with a slate roof, ridge tiles and tall brick chimneystacks. The building is in a Gothic style.

The main part is two to three storeys high, with six windows, and incorporates one-storey wings with attics. All front windows feature stained glass, although the upper floors have only stained glass in their upper sections. The west, or entrance, front has a three-storey, five-light stone canted bay with mullioned and transomed windows, including trefoil heads to the ground floor and carved stone panels between floors. To the right of the bay is a dormer with a triple window, followed by two windows. The first floor features double mullioned and transomed casements, while the ground floor has triple arched windows. A central tower rises with a mansard roof (originally topped with a spirelet, which was demolished in the 1950s), and features four angle turrets. The tower has a double mullioned and transomed window on the second floor, a four-light oriel on the first floor, and an arched doorcase on the ground floor. A projecting bay to the right includes a 20th-century window to the first floor and a double trefoil-headed window to the ground floor, complete with a mullioned and transomed casement. An end bay features a gable with a finial; a triple mullioned and transomed window to the second and first floors, and a five-light window to the ground floor, all with mullions and transomes. A one-storey left wing has a gabled dormer and four windows with trefoil heads. The right wing, originally a service wing, has a 20th-century flat-roofed addition.

The east, or garden, front is of similar character, with three projecting gables. The end three bays to the right have stone canted bays featuring numerous trefoil heads, while the left-hand bay has a stone oriel. A wooden verandah forms a balcony at first floor level, and a 20th-century flat-roofed dining hall is situated to the left.

The interior features an Entrance Hall with a marquetry inlaid floor, a coffered ceiling, a screen with an ogee arch, an elaborate fireplace, and stained glass windows depicting figures of Peace and Hospitality, as well as roundels of the seasons and eminent men. The Common Room has a plastered ceiling and stained glass windows depicting flowers. The Library includes built-in bookshelves, a fireplace, and a coffered ceiling. The former Dining Room contains a four-centred arched, black marble fireplace with decorated spandrels, columns, a built-in ogee-headed mirror, panelling, and a coffered ceiling. A room in the left wing has a kingpost roof and stained glass windows. The open-well staircase boasts elaborate cinquefoil-headed balusters and chamfered newel posts with quatrefoils. A first-floor alcove is located in the central tower. The former principal bedroom has stained glass depicting Day and Night. The Headmaster’s Study has owl-themed stained glass and an original fireplace. An Art Nouveau fireplace is found on the second floor. The roof structure incorporates through purlins and principal rafters.