Architect Francis Pollen and the history behind the Sixth Form Centre

The new Sixth Form Centre is based in what was previously the monks’ refectory and is a building of significant architectural importance.

The architect of the refectory was Francis Pollen, who is regarded as one of the key British architects of the Roman Catholic Liturgical Movement in the UK, resulting in many new modernist Catholic churches being built. Pollen and others utilised contemporary design and construction methods to deliver the ‘noble simplicity’ required by Vatican II.

Alan Powers’ book Downside Abbey, An Architectural History devotes a chapter to the work of Pollen. According to Powers, “When the Downside library was finished, the building team moved on to build the new monks’ refectory, with a school refectory below and guest rooms over it. Here brick plays a major role; concrete is used for massive exposed beams resting on concrete pads over the brick piers between the windows. The design…is based on a system of repeating bays, in line with the older buildings of the monastery. The refectories are given broad windows, above which the elevation design changes, via a jettied projection supported by the roof beams of the refectory…The refectory ceiling between the beams is made of polished hardwood with ribs, angled down towards the centre, folded to correspond to the angles of the window heads. Pollen’s work at Downside is “richly loaded with contradiction and symbolic meaning expressed through the essence of the structure and design.”

It is with great respect that Downside now inhabits this incredible space with its religious heritage as an area for Sixth Form pupils to study, relax and create their own community, whilst still being connected to the main School.

Text taken from Alan Powers’ chapter, The Work of Francis Pollen, in Aidan Bellenger (ed.), Downside Abbey: An Architectural History (London and New York: Merrell, 2011).