Downs (Roman Catholic Convent, Part Of St Michaels Hospital)

Downs (Roman Catholic Convent, Part of St Michael's Hospital)

Small country house, now used as a nursing convent, built circa 1880 and extended in 1902 and again in the early 20th century. It was built for Mr Rawlings and designed by E. and J.D. Sedding. The building is Grade II* listed.

The house is constructed of rock-faced elvan brought to course with granite dressings. It has steep dry Delabole slate roofs with projecting eaves rafters and granite coped gable ends, finished with crested clay ridge tiles. External stone lateral stacks have shaped tops; one stack features blind battlements, and a gable end stack adjoins the kitchen wing.

The building follows an irregular plan with four principal rooms, each with a gable-ended front, arranged around a central T-shaped entrance hall and stair hall. A porch in the front east angle leads to a vestibule and then to a two-storey axial entrance hall and stair hall with another entrance in the angle behind the principal right-hand wing. A lower service wing adjoins the left-hand side of the front. Early 20th-century extensions include a two-storey wing at the rear left and a single-storey infill wing between this and the original service wing. A slightly later single-storey wing, marked with a memorial plaque to Lizzie S. Brooke, adjoins at right angles to the front left of the porch. A church built in 1927 adjoins the rear left side (not included in the listing).

The house is designed in Tudor Gothic style with two storeys. Similarly detailed fronts feature plinths, moulded strings under first floor sills, hoodmoulds, and relieving arches over ground floor windows and all gable end windows. Most windows have transoms; the principal windows have cusped-headed lights with foiled tracery. All windows retain their original leaded glazing. Louvred ventilators light the gables.

The principal east entrance front has a 1:1:1 bay composition with an original gable end projecting forward on the left and the side wall of the principal wing on the right. An integral hipped lean-to porch in the angle has a four-light timber-framed gabled bay window over it. The porch features a four-centred arched doorway on the right and a two-light traceried window on the left. The bay window has pargetted plasterwork in the panels between the braced framing, a moulded sill, trefoil-headed lights, and quarterfoil tracery. It is crowned by an arch-braced king post on corbel to a gable with a brattished barge board with central pendant. The lower central panel beneath the window displays a later crucifix of the Daughters of The Cross of Liege. The original wing on the left has a three-light window to the middle of the first floor; its ground floor has an early 20th-century gable-ended wing in front. The far left contains the original lower service wing with a four-centred arched doorway. Right of the porch is a two-light window to the first floor and further right a lateral stack offset at first floor level and partly carried on moulded corbels.

The north garden front has a gable end of the principal wing on the left, the side wall of one of two parallel gable-ended wings set back on the right, and a gable-ended porch in the angle. The principal gable has a two-storey gabled bay window with four lights to the front and two-light sidelights to the first floor window, all featuring cinquefoil-headed lights and quatrefoil tracery. The porch has a bracket-arched window to the front and an ornate framed gable end with a central bell-cote. Above the porch is a three-light window lighting the stair landing, and on the right a three-stage lateral stack surmounted by a pair of square shafts linked by a recessed half-column. The right-hand return wall of the principal wing has a four-light window with cinquefoil-headed lights to the ground floor; above it is a former doorway originally leading to a balcony, and further right a single-light window. The principal three-light stair window in the south wall has trefoil-headed lights and tracery.

Interior

The interior contains a wealth of Tudor Gothic detail and is virtually unaltered since construction. The stair hall features a dog-leg stair with closed string, square-on-plan column balusters, and fluted newels with ball finials and moulded pendants. A timber-framed oriel, now a cupboard, carried on corbels overlooks the stair. The principal parlour has fluted panelling, a fine Gothic style ceiling, and a four-centred arched chimney piece. Throughout the house are original panelled doors (some with four-centred arches, some with architraves), plaster ceiling cornices, and old or original fittings.

The front courtyard is enclosed by slate-coped walls pierced by a wide gateway to the right of middle and an ogee-headed doorway through the right-hand wall into the gardens. The original gate is panelled with pierced arches.

Historical Context

The Downs was purchased by Miss Francis E. Ellis in 1901 and extended by her in 1902 so that the extension and part of the house could be used as a convent named St Theresa's Convent. St Theresa's founded St Michael's Hospital on land bought by Miss Ellis in 1904. A memorial statue of St Michael was erected to her memory in 1933.