Listed Building record TR 36 NW 1014 - URSULINE CONVENT SCHOOL

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
CANTERBURY ROAD 1. 1380 WESTGATE-ON-SEA No 225 (Ursuline Convent School) TR 36 NW 9/121
II
2. Built in 1886 as a private house, reputedly for a tea planter. The front elevation is of 2 to 3 storeys red brick with stone window dressings, 3 gables. Some sashes, some modified Venetian windows and some mullions and transoms. Ground floor porch with open pediment containing moulded shell and 2 plain Tuscan columns and 2 pilasters. The rear elevation has 3 gables, 2 of them curved. Good interior of the period. Staircase with heavy carved balusters, the Parlour has a Neo-Jacobean plasterwork ceiling of scrolls and putti and the Library has a strapwork plastered ceiling. Fireplaces with swag or scroll decorations and 1 marble fireplace with pilasters in the shape of terms and a swag frieze.
Listing NGR: TR3351669845

A heritage assessment of the site carried out in 2020 stated that "The house is of historical interest architecturally, being of a late Victorian gothic style house built by a well-known prominent architect. Externally it retains many of its original features and forms part of the history of the growth of the Westgate-on-Sea estate. There have been some minor changes in respect of the replacement of the conservatory and in the 1930s when the eastern side was knocked through to join the wider complex of the school buildings. Also, the number of chimneys has been reduced. Internally, there have been changes to the layout to accommodate the building being used as a school and the later extensions. However, the architecturally significant rooms are virtually unaltered. In the areas that were of less architectural interest as a result of the rooms being part of the house that the servants used, there have been minor changes to the internal placements of doorways and windows...The asset retains much of its late 19th century structure internally and externally, albeit with a few changing aspects, the major one being the addition of the adjoining 1930s building" (from the original report, 2).
The gatehouse to the school is known as The Lodge and is contemporary with the structure, having been built in 1886. Also constructed around this time were stables and a coach house with living quarters, however, these structures have since been demolished. (2)

<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> Swale and Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2020, Heritage Statement In Advance Of The 2019 Refurbishment At Ursuline College, 225 Canterbury Road, Westgate-on-sea, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE56680.