Tower House School

Tower House School is a villa, later adapted for use as a school, built in 1890 and extended in the 1930s. It is constructed in a Free Beaux Arts style. The building is faced with yellow Flemish bond brick, with dressings of local grey limestone. The roof is concealed behind a parapet and the block features brick stacks with corbelled caps and old chimney pots.

The main block is set back from the road, with a large garden in front. It has a deep rectangular plan and an entrance from Mabel Place. The front elevation is asymmetrical, with three and four storeys. The left-hand bay is bow-fronted, while the central bay projects and rises as a four-storey tower with polished granite pilasters to either side. A moulded eaves cornice sits above a frieze of alternating brackets and stamped tiles, topped by a balustraded parapet with terracotta urn finials. Windows are largely timber sashes with two panes of plate glass, some with smaller panes in the head. Ground-floor windows have stone lintels, and first-floor windows are pilastered; those in the bow feature channelled rustication. A right-hand block incorporates two high-transomed French windows opening onto a two-bay balcony supported on stone corbels. The balcony has a decorative cast-iron balustrade and glazed roof. Second-floor windows have pilastered architraves, shallow balconies, and sill blocks. The upper stage of the tower features a triple round-headed window with moulded architraves and pilasters.

A projecting porch on the right return has a moulded cornice below a balustraded parapet, with pilasters having sunk panels and carved capitals. The round-headed stone doorway is pilastered, with a recessed panelled door, glazed upper panels, and a plain fanlight. A round-headed, pilastered window with sill blocks, containing stained glass, is located on the right return of the porch. The left end of the building is a 1930s extension, originally intended as a gymnasium.

The interior of the main block retains much of the original lavish design. The hallway has a tiled floor. Doors to the principal ground-floor rooms are panelled with elaborate moulded doorcases, pediments over the doors, and richly-modelled plaster ceiling friezes. The main staircase features turned newels and cast-iron balustrades. A second staircase descends to a rear ballroom, which was later subdivided. The first floor retains good doors and plasterwork friezes. Numerous pieces of stained glass are present, including internal screens and windows, notably the stair window.

The house was built for Henry John Bailey, who was also responsible for Bailey's Emporium and Coniston. It was sold to the Marist Sisters in 1908 and operated as a convent school until 1982.