Block of Buildings at Christ College to SE of School Chapel

Block of Buildings at Christ College to South-East of School Chapel

This block comprises a group of stone-built structures with slate roofs, associated with Christ College. The buildings form an important early Gothic Revival ensemble, featuring characteristic pointed arch openings and decorative stonework.

School House forms the principal structure, arranged in multiple wings. The main building stands at right angles to the nave of the former Friary Church and contains a two-storey wing housing a library and ground floor common rooms. The upper floor's long walls are pierced by lancet windows matching the style of the school chapel. The east elevation is divided by buttresses into four sections, each containing three lancet lights on the first floor and three trefoil-headed lights on the ground floor. The similar west rear elevation includes a projection at the south end.

At the south end of the east elevation stands a lower projecting wing. Its first bay displays a paired trefoil-headed window on the first floor surmounted by a small gable lit by a quatrefoil light. A further two-bay wing extends southward; the right-hand bay contains a canted two-storey bay window of four cusped-headed lights with transoms and corbels surmounted by a parapet. The left-hand bay has a three-light transom window above with cusped heads to the upper lights and single cusped-headed light windows on the ground floor.

The main wing of School House is oriented perpendicular to the Library and Common Room wing. Its north elevation displays two storeys plus attic across four bays. Stone quoins and contrasting colour bands articulate the wall, with window openings featuring alternately-coloured stone voussoirs. Each outer bay contains a gable pierced by a cinquefoil light to the attic storey, with a three-trefoil-headed light window immediately below, partly set in the roof space. The first floor outer bays contain three-trefoil-headed light windows; ground floor bays have three flat-headed light windows. The left-hand inner bay has a two-trefoil-headed light window on the first floor and a two-flat-headed light window on the ground floor. The right-hand inner bay features a tall mullion and transom staircase window with an arched doorway at ground level.

The east gable is pierced by a cinquefoil light with ashlar architrave and pointed head. Against the lower wall stands a two-storey, one-bay lean-to wing, adjoining a semi-octagonal former kitchen with a semi-octagonal hipped slate roof and cupola. The north and east facets of the kitchen are each lit by a two-trefoil-headed light window with cinquefoil light above. A wing extending on the north-south axis contains the main entrance to School House at its north end. This section comprises two storeys and attic across two bays, with windows of trefoil-headed lights featuring columned mullions. Two gables contain attic windows of two lights, with two-light windows and a single-light window on the first floor to the left-hand side. The ground floor has a single-light window to the left-hand side, a flight of steps in the middle ascending to a pointed-arched doorway with double doors and dripstone, and a two-flat-arched light window to the right-hand side. A projecting block with northward-facing gable extends to the left, with an east elevation of two bays and one gable. Windows feature trefoil or flat-headed lights with columned mullions and slightly battered plinths. The south elevation spans three bays with a wide gable over the two western bays, containing a window of trefoil and flat-arched lights with columned mullion, and a doorway in the middle.

The Main Dining Hall to the left incorporates medieval structures and was restored and partly rebuilt by Pritchard and Seddon (covered for repairs at the time of inspection). It comprises one storey with stone walls. A semi-octagonal apse of three facets at the east end features buttressing and mullion and transom windows with trefoil-headed lights. The south wall is pierced by three mullion and transom windows, each of two cusped-headed lights. The hall contains a four-bay arched braced collar roof with cusped wind braces and a Gothic-style fireplace.

Adjacent stands the Old Library or smaller dining room, a lofty one-storey wing of medieval origin with walls of old masonry, restored by Pritchard and Seddon in 1861–1864. Its gable is pierced by a double trefoil window with a small window to the left-hand side below and a pointed-headed doorway in the centre. The west elevation comprises three bays, each with a two-trefoil-headed light window with quatrefoil above. At the south end of the Old Library Wing extends a smaller wing with roof on the north-south axis. Its south gable end wall is pierced by a two-trefoil-headed light window surmounted by a quatrefoil on the first floor, and on the ground floor by a three-light modern window to the left-hand side and a pointed doorway to the right-hand side. The north-east return elevation is faced with old stone rubble and features an external stack with a tall single-light window above a small two-light window below.