High Mistress's House

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 25 May 2023 to correct a typo in the description, amend dates of construction and to reformat the text to current standards

333/0/10100

Brook Green
ROWAN ROAD
No 48
High Mistress's House

07-JUN-07

GV
II

House, for the High Mistress of St Paul's Girls School, by Gerald Horsley, 1913.

The building is adjacent to and interconnecting with the Gustav Holst Music Wing, which is separately listed at Grade II. The two buildings abut each other.

EXTERIOR: The house is a two storey red brick building of three bays (plus a fourth bay to the north, connecting the house to the music wing). It has a steep hipped slate roof and tall end stone capped chimney stacks. The design is restrained, with Queen Anne detailing in the segmental hood over the door and the hipped dormer windows. There are also hints at the Arts and Crafts style in the tall chimneys and tile-hung, full-height bays. One of the principal qualities of the building is the high standard of craftsmanship: the five hoppers, dated 1913, for example evidence the care taken over detail throughout the house. To the rear, the windows and single door have prominent stone keystones to the gauged brick segmental arches. There is a full-height bow window to the south of this elevation. The house interconnects with the Gustav Holst Music Wing to the north. The connecting bay, which has a later extension at first floor level (bringing the first floor into line with the ground storey), has a bay window at ground floor and a large rectangular window with soldier coursing to the first floor. The later extension is of lesser interest although it does not detract from the architectural quality of the building.

INTERIOR: The plan form is largely unaltered, save for the small extension of the first floor room of the connecting block and the knocking through of the southernmost rooms at ground and first floor level to create large reception rooms. Four fireplaces survive in the principal rooms, and there are cornices, skirting boards, picture rails, window casing and doors throughout. The original staircase is extant with open well and has large square newel posts, a broad moulded handrail and turned balusters. As with the exterior, the special interest is in the quality of the design and craftsmanship of the details. The brass window and door fittings are very elegant and survive throughout the house.

The Edwardian garden, included in the original plans by Horsley, survives. It has low brick walls creating a sunken section centred on a sundial, surrounded by terracing. While the garden features are not of special interest in their own right, the survival of the composition, which was integral to the design of the house, compounds the special interest of the house.

HISTORY: The High Mistress's House was built in 1913 by Gerald Horsley, the architect of the main school (built in 1904-1907) and the music wing (built along with the house in 1913). The garden to the house was also designed by Horsley. Since 1913, few alterations taken place in the house or garden, and the footprint is unchanged.

Gerald Horsley is an architect of some renown, the son of John Calcott Horsley RA, a well-known painter. Horsley, a pupil of Norman Shaw, was one of the founders of the Art Worker's Guild in 1884, a group which promoted the theory of the interdependence of the arts. The Guild organised lectures and discussions to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas between artists, designers, craftsmen and architects amid the increasing 'professionalisation' of the arts through institutions such as the Royal Academy and the Royal Institute of British Architects. Horsley has several listed buildings to his name including Frame Wood Manor in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire (Grade II), Hatch End and Harrow and Wealdstone Railway Stations (both Grade II) and the Church of St Chad in Longston, Staffordshire (Grade II*). His principal work, however, was St Paul's Girls' School for which he won a competition in 1897.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Built by a renowned architect, the house is of special architectural interest for the quality of the design, both in overall composition and detail. The understated references to architectural styles; the Arts and Crafts and the Queen Anne, are particularly fine and reveal the skill of the architect. These are enhanced by the high-quality details, including the dated hoppers and the brass window and door fittings. Moreover, the group value of the High Mistress' House is very strong: the building is integral to the school as a whole and interconnects seamlessly with the contemporary Gustav Holst Music Wing (listed Grade II) which is itself connected to the main school (also Grade II).

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

502804

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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