History

Rydal School was founded in 1885 by a leading Methodist educationalist, T G Osborn. The Costain building was added to the growing school complex in 1927-30 as science laboratories etc and the Memorial Hall, which extends the L-plan Costain building to the S, was added in 1955-7. Both buildings were designed by S Colwyn Foulkes, architect, of Colwyn Bay.

Exterior

Coursed and squared sandstone rubble with plain tiled roofs. 2 storeyed, L-plan, with low corner towner at angle. Simplified Tudor detailing. On the courtyard side, the N range has a gable marking its W angle, with canted bay window with mullioned and transomed lights, and paired windows above. Beyond it is a cloister of 5 bays, with small 2 and 3-light mullioned windows in the upper storey. High parapet. W-facing range is similarly detailed, with 3x3-light mullioned and transomed windows to ground floor, and similar windows above. Segmentally arched doorway to right gives access to broad through-passage which forms the lobby of the Memorial Hall. Street elevations have a more detailed relief, with wide mullioned and transomed windows in each bay, divided by blind traceried panels. Corner tower has angle buttresses and oriel windows in 2 faces, and is surmounted by an embattled parapet. Memorial Hall has 3 high-set lights to its left, with quatrefoil frieze above, then is articulated as 3 bays, divided by buttresses which terminate in coupled finials; each bay has a 3-tier 2-light mullioned and transomed window. Buttressed fly-tower to the S, with very narrow lights and a shallow pyramidal roof behind a parapet. Its austere S-facing elevation is relieved by a series of slight pilaster buttresses.

Interior

The Costain Building is planned with corridors along its two inner faces (serving as a cloister on the N range), and retains the original internal layout.

Reasons for Listing

The Costain Building is a highly refined interpretation of the collegiate architectural style, sensitive to its site, and articulating precisely defined functions.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29492523

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)