Former Falmouth Boys Grammar School and annexe, Falmouth, Cornwall

Summary

Former boys grammar school and annexe, now an Adult Education Centre, 1913-1915, by Sampson Hill.

Description

Former boys grammar school and annexe, now an Adult Education Centre, 1913-1915, by Sampson Hill.

MATERIALS: pink rock-faced granite elvan from Tremore quarry near Bodmin with grey granite ashlar dressings; Delabole slate roofs. Reinforced concrete used for the structure of internal floors, ceilings and staircases.

PLAN: two-storey inverted T-plan orientated facing south-east, with an additional two storey block in the northern angle. Single-storey entrance blocks to the left and right of the principal front and a further single-storey block to the west. The building has a central longitudinal corridor with staircases at each end; to its north is an assembly hall.

EXTERIOR: the main building has a hipped roof with stone stacks to the rear, a deep eaves-cornice and a central octagonal cupola. The cupola has a copper ogee roof, louvred timber sides below open pediments, and is on a square copper-faced base. On the north-east elevation the chimneybreast is expressed externally and is decorated with two carved grey granite offset blocks with scroll mouldings. The principal elevation is symmetrical and of three bays, the central bay slightly projecting. The left and right bays each have three 24-pane sash windows on the ground and first floor, and the central bay has a pair of 18-pane sash windows flanked by narrower 12-pane sash windows to each floor. The middle of the central bay breaks through the eaves cornice and is topped by an open pediment containing the date 1914, the Duchy of Cornwall shield and GRAMMAR SCHOOL all carved in grey granite. At the base of the building, a pink granite plinth with grey granite quoins rises to a plinth band in grey granite. The windows have plain grey granite dressings with pedimented drip-moulds to the ground-floor windows in the outer bays. At the ends of the principal elevation are set-back single-storey flat-roofed wings, on top of which stands a half-octagon bay at the angle with the cross of the T-plan to the rear. Each single-storey wing has a grey granite ashlar entrance bay above granite steps; the doorway is placed within a deep recess, although that to the left is filled and has a late-C20 door.

The rear elevation comprises three elements. In the centre is a projecting half-hexagonal two-storey bay housing the assembly hall, with 24-pane sash windows to the ground floor, recessed grey-granite panels above, and windows with top-hung casements to the first floor. On the ground floor there is a late-C20 door half-filling one window. The two-storey wing to the left has symmetrical fenestration comprising three 24-pane sash windows flanked by a pair of narrower 12-pane sash windows on the ground floor, with a large four-bay window with top-opening casements flanked by 18-pane sash windows above. On the ground floor half of one window is filled with a late-C20 door. To the right is a single-storey flat-roofed wing, five bays wide, with four bays of 24-pane sashes and a late-C20 door with a 12-pane over-light to the left. All windows have plain grey granite dressings. Cast-iron downpipes with hoppers survive.

INTERIOR: the principal access is through the right-hand entrance bay on the main elevation. This leads into a small lobby with lavatories, storage and staff rooms located ahead and an office to the right. To the left is the longitudinal corridor which has a herringbone woodblock floor. To its south-east side are three classrooms to its north-west side is a glazed timber screen with two sets of double doors leading to the assembly hall. One set of doors is framed and glazed above vertical boarding in two panels; the other is a late-C20 replacement and the glazing to the corridor screen above is blocked. The assembly hall is four bays long, defined by pilasters with simply-moulded bases on the outer walls which sit on top of a dado comprising vertical boarding set within framed panels. At the south-east end is a small stage with short flights of steps either side. Its front is treated in the same manner as the dado. The glazed corridor screen behind the stage is blocked with an inserted framed panel. Flanking the stage are timber pilasters with simply-panelled detailing and mouldings. On the north-east side of the hall are a pair of timber, glazed screens set with partly-glazed doors with vertical boarding below; these lead to two storerooms. The floor is laid with woodblock in a herringbone pattern, and all of the joinery is of red deal and unpainted. At the west end of the ground floor are further offices, classrooms and storage. Open-newel staircases are located at each end of the corridor and have terrazzo flooring at their base. The staircases have chunky moulded red deal newel posts and a decorative wrought-iron balustrade. The stairs are polished concrete reflecting their reinforced construction. On the first floor is a further longitudinal corridor with a woodblock floor, with classrooms on the south-east side and a glazed screen on the north-west side of the same design as on the ground floor. This originally gave light to the double-height assembly hall but now divides the corridor from further classrooms. Late-C20 fire doors and screens have been inserted in various places throughout the building, but where original internal doors survive, they are timber-panelled in the same manner as the dado to the assembly hall and have brass door furniture.

The annexe is two storeys, five bays north to south, faced in rock-faced pink elvan with plain grey granite dressings, and a Delabole slate roof with a single stone stack. The main elevation faces north-east and comprises a three-bay central section with paired central windows rising to a pediment which breaks through the eaves; the roof here is hipped and has two wrought-iron finials to the ridge. The pediment has the Duchy of Cornwall arms carved in grey granite. Recessed wings with pitched roofs flank the central section, with an entrance in the left wing and cast-iron downpipes with hoppers. The ground floor windows are blocked, and one has been replaced with a late-C20 door. No information is available about the interior of the annexe building.

History

The 1902 Education Act (the Balfour Act) abolished the school boards, formed as a result of the 1870 Education Act which in turn had prompted the first intensive programme of school building in the country. The Balfour Act placed education in the control of local authorities and provided for both elementary and secondary education. Elementary schools began to be planned with the child and the teacher in mind, and from 1907 design was based around the needs of good health, principally resulting in better ventilation and the abandonment of the central hall plan. Secondary schools evolved differently, with most authorities focusing on status rather than health; these buildings were largely for children from better homes. In the immediate years before the First World War, the design of secondary schools also began to focus on ventilation, and large windows were easily accommodated in the preferred style for grammar schools: neo-Georgian. Most new grammar schools were built after the First World War although even in the inter-war period many ideas went unrealised due to the poor economy.

Falmouth Boys Grammar School was built on Killigrew Road in 1868 as a successor to the 1824 Classical and Mathematical School on the site. The school building was very small with a schoolroom and a classroom, and in 1892 had only 29 pupils when Mr AN Deakin joined as headmaster. In around 1910 an inspector from the Board of Education reported that the school was inadequate to meet its growing demands, which had been boosted by its reputation under Mr Deakin. Plans were prepared for the addition of a lecture theatre and two classrooms, but just as building was ready to commence a further inspection took place which recommended that the school building should be abandoned entirely, and a new building erected on a suitable site. In February 1912 the management of the school was transferred to the county education authorities, and that summer a site on Tregenver Road to the west of Falmouth town was negotiated. Plans for a new grammar school were drawn up in early 1913 by Sampson Hill (1862-1917), a Redruth architect who was also Cornwall County Council’s Education Committee Architect. Hill’s design comprised six classrooms to accommodate 152 boys (with space available for two additional classrooms); a hall, 43 feet by 26 feet; a science laboratory; an art room; two staff rooms; and a cloak room and lavatories. A workshop, dining room, stores and offices were planned for in a detached block. The architect’s specification, dated September 1913, provided great detail on the materials used such as the composition of Portland cement used in different parts of the building, including for reinforced-concrete floors, stairs and landings. ‘Burhos’ pink elvan from quarries near Tolcarne was specified for all squared-joint facings and quoins, although pink elvan from Tremore quarry near Bodmin was eventually used. Other dressings were specified to be of ‘deep-quarry’ grey granite. Old Delabole grey slate was specified for the roof and red deal for all joinery including the woodblock flooring. Falmouth Boys Grammar School was opened in autumn 1915.

The grammar school is shown on the 1930s Ordnance Survey (OS) map which illustrates an almost-symmetrical plan with wings to the east and west and a curved bay to the north; to the west is an ancillary building, or annexe. Across the road from the school a large playing field with a pavilion is shown; physical exercise was a compulsory daily part of the curriculum - the emphasis was truly on healthy boys.

After the Second World War there were 306 boys on the school roll, and in 1947 a new dining room block and an army cadet hut were built to the west of the annex. In 1957 the chemistry laboratory (within the single-storey north-west wing) was replaced with a library, and a further classroom and laboratory block were constructed to the west of the annex. After 1965 a floor was added in the double-height hall to create extra classrooms on the first floor. In 1971 the grammar school became the lower school of the newly-expanded Falmouth School. It became an Adult Education Centre in 2003. The post-war additions to the west of the annex have been demolished.

Reasons for Listing

The former Falmouth Boys Grammar School and annexe are listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a good representation of the educational buildings designed by Sampson Hill as the Council’s Education Committee Architect;
* for the use of Cornish granites and Delabole slate as a demonstration of local distinctiveness;
* the neo-Georgian design reflects the convention for school building in the period, and is presented well in the principal elevations;
* the historic plan form with its spine corridor, large assembly hall and symmetrical entrances can still be read, despite some alterations.

Historic interest:
* as a good example of a local authority-managed school of its period, following on from the schools designed by other Cornish architects such as Silvanus Trevail as a result of the 1870 Education Act.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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