Saint Patrick's College

Attached ten-bay two-storey dormitory building with attic, c.1880, comprising six-bay two-storey central block with two-bay two-storey gabled advanced flanking bays having single-bay two-storey recessed lower end bay to left (north-west) with single-bay single-storey linking entrance bay to left (north-west). Now in use as exam hall. Hipped roof with slate (gabled to advanced bays; gable-ended to recessed end bay). Clay ridge tiles. Cut-stone coping to gables with cross finials to apexes. Profiled cast-iron rainwater goods on eaves course. Flat-roofed to linking entrance bay. Materials not visible behind parapet walls. Irregular coursed squared rubble sandstone walls. Cut-stone dressings including stringcourse to first floor. Pointed-arch window openings (paired). Cut-stone block-and-start surrounds. 1/1 timber sash windows with fixed-pane overlights. Pointed-oval windows openings to gables. Cut-stone surrounds. Fixed-pane timber windows. Paired pointed-arch window openings to recessed end bay in cut-stone block-and-start surround. Fixed-pane window (possibly with stained glass). Pointed-arch door opening to linking entrance bay. Cut-stone block-and-start surround. Diagonal tongue-and-groove timber panelled door. Leaded overlight. Set in grounds shared with Saint Patrick’s College. Tarmacadam forecourt to front (south-west).

Loftus Hall is of social and historical significance representing the continued expansion of Saint Patrick’s College as a seminary in the late nineteenth century. Composed of regular proportions, the building presents a balanced front (south-west) elevation on to the grounds. The construction of the building in squared rubble sandstone is a good example of the high quality of stone masonry practised in the locality. Well-maintained, the block retains its original form and most of its original fabric, including timber sash fenestration, timber fittings to the door opening and a slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods.