Description

TQ 19 NW 4/21
5259

ORPHANAGE ROAD
Former London Orphan Asylum

(Formerly listed as "Government Offices" Reed School (Orphan Asylum))

15.9.82

II

1871 by Henry Dawson. Former London Orphan Asylum. Extensive Gothic group of
institutional buildings built for 5-600 orphans and 100 servants for £63,000. No
plaster was used to save on maintenance. Stock brick with red brick, terracotta,
red sandstone and Bath stone decorative details. Slate roofs. Large central
administration block. South facing, with Headmasters House to left and on each
side a 3-sided quadrangle, open to the south, large boys' quadrangle to left,
smaller girls' quadrangle to right. A further large boys' quadrangle to the rear
of the front boys' quadrangle is not included in -the listing. Central range 3-storey
and attic, 5 window with 125' tower over centre. Hipped roof with bargeboarded
bulls-eye dormers. Gothic arched porch in centre with 1st and 2nd floor windows
united in stone surround with Gothic head. Tower brick, square surround with
corners chamfered and 2-light openings at bell-stage. Above heavily moulded eaves
broken by a clock with bargeboarded gable. Octagonal slated spire with timber open
lantern. Flanking centre are 2-storey stone projecting bays, outer windows paired
with Gothic arched heads. 2nd floor windows triple. Heavy bracketed eaves cornice.
The West (boys) quadrangle is larger and more elaborate than the girls' quadrangle.
Basic unit 2-storey with steep roof, 7 windows. Centre emphasised with 2-sided
stone oriels at 1st floor and hipped, canted-side gable above. Ground floor open
arcade on stone columns with naturalistic capitals. Two units to west side, one
to east. North range has single storey arcade flanking low 2 gabled 2-storey build-
ing with open ground floor (the glazing, floor, and roof (including former lantern
spirelet) destroyed by fire 1989). Girls' quadrangle (East) has paired windows
with coloured brick relieving arches over ground floor windows and blocked 5 bay
arcade on east range, brick piers and roundels in spandrels. Five window sides,
10 window centre.
Builder 29.1871 591. Architect 18.2.1871.

Listing NGR: TQ1141997246

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26470129

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)