St Boniface School

St Boniface School is a bishop’s house, now used as a school, built in 1859, likely designed by J.A. Hansom, with an enlargement in 1899. It is constructed of Plymouth limestone rubble with limestone dressings, including string courses, and has steep dry slate roofs with coped gables. Dormers, both gabled and hipped, project from the roofline. Stone stacks, some with render, are present, with end stacks and a large outbuilt lateral stack at the rear of the original building. The architectural style is Gothic Revival.

The building features a large, irregular plan with a cross wing to the left of the original section and another wing to the right of the porch. The 1899 addition has a deeper plan. The original part is three stories plus an attic, while the rest is two stories plus an attic. The front has an irregular 11-bay facade. Most of the windows are transomed 2-light and 3-light mullioned, with relieving arches; some rear windows retain transoms, and many have 4-centred arched lights. The original house has an embattled porch between the wings, and a 4-centred arched doorway with sidelights. A wing to the right of the porch features 3-light windows to the front and single lights to the returns, topped with a hipped roof over a gabled dormer, with bargeboards forming an ogee arch. A two-light window is situated to the right of this, with a recessed two-story bay projecting at the far right and adjoining the south aisle of the St Mary & St Boniface Roman Catholic Cathedral on Wyndham Street West. This bay has a large gable over a 2-light window breaking the eaves, above a 3-light window. The 1899 section on the left has 3-light windows, with the central bay breaking the eaves under a gable topped with a cross finial.

The interior has not been inspected, but is likely to be of interest. The building is prominently situated next to the Roman Catholic Cathedral.