Our Lady'S Convent Preparatory School

This is a former preparatory school, originally built as a private house in the early 20th century. It was likely designed by A. Bamford for a Mr. Berrill. The building is constructed of red brick to the ground floor, with wide corner pilasters and pebbledash to the first floor. A wide, elaborate modillion eaves cornice tops the building, and it is finished with a hipped plain tile roof. There’s a brick stack on the left wing, and a possible truncated stack to the right, incorporated within the flat section of the hipped roof. The house is arranged in an “L” shape. It is designed in a Carolean or Artisan Mannerist style, featuring wooden or stone mullion and transom windows with fine leaded lights. The main facade of the house faces the rear garden.

The front facing the lane has a projecting wing on the left. The right section of the front has an entrance door with a flat hood, flanked by two-light windows, and a large five-light window above. Additional stone windows are found to the left and on the left return, and on the front of the wing, a window is positioned on the first floor above a blocked doorway. There are three two-light casement dormers with curved roofs on the main range, and another on the wing. The right side has further windows and a dormer above, while the left side features a triple window at first floor over sashes and two dormers. The garden front boasts a symmetrical design of six windows at first floor level, with a polygonal bay on either side of a central stone doorcase with a stone window on each side. Four roof dormers are present: the outer ones are of two lights with curved roofs, and the inner ones are of three lights with flat and pedimented roofs.

Inside, the entrance door opens into an entrance hall with a stone chequer floor. A fine oak open-well staircase with column-on-vase balusters and massive column newels rises from here. Curving steps lead down to a cloak area, which has a black and white miniature chequer floor and original tiling. The entrance hall leads to a study on the right, featuring a fireplace in the style of around 1700. Further steps down connect to a lounge hall, which has a stone bolection fireplace. Original doors lead to the reception rooms, which also retain original fireplaces, and to a service corridor. Bedrooms have original doors and fireplaces with cast-iron grates; one has been converted into a second attic stair in addition to the back stairs.

The house is a well-executed example of the Carolean style, with limited alterations to the interior, which is carefully designed and boasts high-quality fittings, including excellent leaded-light windows. It was noted by Nikolaus Pevsner in 1961, who initially mistakenly attributed it to Gotch, but later clarified the true authorship. A classroom extension added to the north around 1973 is not considered to be of special architectural interest.