St Francis Vicarage

St Francis Vicarage is a house built around 1929-1930, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott to accompany the neighbouring Anglican church of St Francis in High Wycombe. The building is constructed of buff brick in a stretcher bond, with ashlar dressings and a pantile roof. The plan is linear, extending from south-west to north-east. Reception rooms are positioned on the south-east side of the ground floor; the study has a bow window at the south-west end, as does the adjacent sitting room. The kitchen is located at the north-eastern end, with a small external yard nearby. The staircase and corridors run along the north-western side, alongside bathrooms, lavatories, and storage areas. A flush ashlar band runs at first-floor sill level externally. Door and window openings feature bricks with quadrant mouldings to their inner edges and soldier courses to the sills and lintels. Metal-framed casement windows have been replaced with uPVC substitutes. The north-eastern entrance front has a projecting central portion of five bays with a recessed arched porch and front door in the middle. Recessed walls flank this, and the eaves have a pronounced overhang. Ridge chimney stacks on either side contribute to the building’s symmetry. The south-western end is bowed, with three windows on each floor, symmetrically arranged, each with two casement lights. The south-eastern front, facing the garden, mirrors the entrance front with a projecting central portion of five bays. Five two-light casements are evenly spaced at first-floor level. Ground-floor windows have low sills to the dining room and a single-storey bow window with a pitched, semi-circular pantile roof to the sitting room. The kitchen is recessed to the right, with a three-light window, and a single bay with a lean-to roof marks the service end of the house, leading to the small, lower-level enclosed yard. Solar panels have been fixed above the roof at the centre of this front. Internally, original panelled doors and door furniture, also designed by Scott, remain. Fire surrounds corresponding to Scott’s drawings survive in the dining room and sitting room; the dining room retains its original tiled surround. The staircase features splat balusters as detailed in the internal elevation drawing. First-floor fire surrounds in the bedrooms have been removed, and fixtures and plumbing in the kitchen, bathroom, and lavatory have been renewed, though the overall plan remains largely unchanged.