Stoneygate - Profile of One Stoneygate House

Profile of One Stoneygate House

In Stoneygate Road (No. 58), on the corner of Aber Road, is a large three storey red brick Victorian building in the gothic style. This was built in 1880 to plans by local architect William Beaumont Smith to relocate the 'Home for Penitent Females' from its previous premises at 16 Blue Boar Lane in Leicester. 'The Home', as it was known, was a charity run by a Committee of local philanthropists and religious leaders to provide welfare and reform for unmarried mothers (oftern referred to as 'fallen women'). It is assumed that the women's children would have been taken from their mothers and would be treated as orphans or adopted soon after birth. The charity would generate income by taking in washing which would be done by the inmates.

The original plans are dated July 23, 1880 and appear to have been submitted for approval on August 21st that year and include a section of building up to No. 60 Stoneygate Road, which was never completed. The main three storey component provided a kitchen, dining room and matron's office on the ground floor, with two floors of dormitories, individual bedrooms and bathrooms above. In an 'L'shaped single storey projection to the rear was the laundry and associated out buildings. A coal yard, carriage house and stable were added in 1882, also to designs by Beaumont-Smith.

William Beaumont-Smith (WBS) appears to have begun his career working for Parsons & Dain who were quite a successful firm of local architects in the early Victorian period, William Parsons being responsible for some of Leicester's grand civic buildings including the Leicestershire County Lunatic Asylum (later part of the University of Leicester) and the Theatre Royal (now demolished). They were also responsible for early parts of the Leicester Royal Infirmary. By 1855 Parsons seems to have disappeared from the partnership and WBS has taken his place; the firm now being called Dain & Smith. They are recorded in local directories as practising from 21 St. Martins in Leicester and during this time WBS was resident in London Rd (Stockdale Terrace and 51 London Rd - next to the Hind Hotel, opposite the railway station).

By 1876 WBS was on his own - not sure what happened to Dain - and was practising from Greyfriars Chambers, 7 Friar Lane, Leicester, where he continued to work until his death in 1899. He was also Leics. County Surveyor from this time until his death. His private residences during this time may say something about his fortunes as a sole practitioner: in the early years (1876–77) he was resident at No. 2 New Walk - the town end of a fashionable residential pedestrian thoroughfare. By 1878 he was at 'Trentham Villa' in Granville Road and remained here until 1881. This suggests he was doing very well indeed - they were (and some remain) grand houses overlooking Victoria Park at the southern end of New Walk. However by 1889 he had moved to 61 Evington Rd - still nice houses but nothing like as grand and Granville Rd. He remained in Evington Rd until the late 1890s - in 1899 he was living at 11 Alexandra Road in Stoneygate. The property was called 'Campsie'.

By the 1930s No. 58 Stoneygate Road had become 'The Home School' and some alterations were made including the addition of the single storey recreation room adjoining No.60 and the conversion of part of the outbuildings to a chapel. In 1942 a further single storey building was added to the rear of the recreation room as an air raid shelter. In the late 1950s the building changed hands again, this time passing to the NHS for use as a new community-based rehabilitation facility for women (later mixed) with learning disabilities. The facility, known as the Stoneygate Hostel, formed part of the Glenfrith group of hospitals along with Stretton Hall hospital. The Hostel was closed by the NHS in the mid-1990s and the property was marketed for sale by Innes England of 12 De Montfort Street, Leicester. Following further adaptations to suit its needs, the building is now occupied by the Leicester Montessori Grammar School.