Description

SHEFFIELD

SK3587SW LEOPOLD STREET 784-1/24/478 (South West side) 18/08/71 Sheffield City Council Education Committee offices (Formerly Listed as: LEOPOLD STREET Central Technical School) (Formerly Listed as: ORCHARD LANE City Grammar School (original, eastern block only))

GV II

School Board offices, Firth College and Central Schools and attached railing, now Education Committee Offices. 1879-80. By TJ Flockton and ER Robson. Adjoining former Science School, 1894, by JB Mitchell-Withers. All for the Sheffield School Board. Ashlar and coursed squared stone, with ashlar dressings, hipped and gabled slate roofs and various coped gable and side wall stacks. Renaissance Revival style. EXTERIOR: former School Board Office, to Leopold Street, 7 windows, has recessed centre flanked by higher blocks, 3 windows. Plinth, pilasters, those to ground floor rusticated, first floor and eaves cornices and open balustrade. Bow-fronted centre, 2 storeys plus basement, has a central plain sash flanked by pilasters and with a segmental pediment above it. Below, a central 8 pane sash flanked by single smaller sashes. Basement has 3 openings with keystones. Right block, 2 storeys plus basement, has in the centre a double 8-pane sash flanked by single 12 pane sashes and below, a double 8 pane sash flanked by single 8 pane sashes, with similar fenestration to the basement. The windows to the lower floors are smaller. Canted 2 storey left block has a central plaque with festoon, flanked by single round-headed niches. Below, central niche flanked by single plaques. Left return, to Orchard Lane, has 2 double 8 pane sashes and above, a similar 8 pane sash to left and two 12 pane sashes to right. The basement has 4 plain openings. To left, former Central Schools building, 2 storeys plus basement and clerestory; 9 window range. Rusticated pilasters, first floor band, cornice and blocking course. Clerestory has ramped coped gables, each with a pair of corniced square stacks linked by a balustrade. Corner and intermediate pilasters are carried up to the eaves cornice and topped with urns. Roof has remains of a hexagonal lantern. Windows are mainly 8 pane sashes arranged singly or in mullioned pairs. Centre has 3 paired windows flanked by pilasters and beyond, single windows, then 2 paired windows. Clerestory has twelve 2-light wooden cross casements separated by panelled pilasters. Ground floor has a central doorcase reached by a bridge with wrought-iron balustrade and square piers, with Ionic pilasters and broken pediment containing a crest. Panelled double door with side lights and overlight. On either side, a paired window, then a single window. Beyond, 2 paired windows. Basement has similar fenestration. At either end, a recessed entrance bay, 2 storeys, with a paired window and below, a moulded doorcase approached by a bridge. Broken pediment containing a plaque inscribed Boys / Girls, and above it a small round-headed window. Gables have the stacks expressed as pilasters, flanking a large paired window in a moulded round-headed recess with keystone. To left, a 2 storey block with first floor band, cornice and blocking, with 2 paired windows on each floor. To left again, the former Science School, 2 storeys plus basement; 7 window range. Rusticated angle and intermediate pilasters, first floor and eaves cornice and blocking with urns at the corners, shouldered round-headed coped gables. On each floor, 7 paired windows. To right a slightly lower recessed entrance bay with a paired window above and below, a recessed double door with enriched lintel and above it, a small window with moulded architrave. Over it, an ornamented panel with the Sheffield School Board monogram. Left gable has a Diocletian window to the garret and 2 paired windows to the ground floor. At the rear, a buttressed block, 2 storeys; 9 window range. Outside, a wrought-iron railing with stone plinth and chamfered coping, running the whole length of the Orchard Lane frontage. Former Firth College has principal front to West Street. 3 storeys; 5 window range. Cornices to each floor, double angle pilasters to the upper floors, balaustrade. Projecting centre, 3 windows, has a single bay central feature with stepped pediment topped with urns. 2 storey round oriel window with festooned plinth and frieze with 2 windows and single flanking windows, all 8 pane sashes. Beyond, single flanking piers and pilasters. On either side, a paired window with scrolled pediment, and beyond, single set back bays with single windows. Above, a central round-headed window with balustraded circular balcony, flanked by single windows. Beyond, single paired windows, then set back single windows. Ground floor has moulded round-headed entrance with panelled double doors and glazing bar fanlight, and spandrels with large relief figures. On either side, single Doric columns. Beyond, single paired windows, then set back single windows. Left return, to Leopold Street, has 3 storeys above rusticated basement. 7 window range, with alternating paired and single windows on each floor, the paired windows to the first floor with scroll pediments. Second floor has similar fenestration with smaller plainer windows. Basement has 7 segment-headed openings with rusticated keystoned heads. To left, a linking block , 2 storeys plus attics; 2 window range. Rusticated basement, balustrade and mansard roof. 2 paired windows with wreathed aprons, and above, 2 box dormers with 9 pane lights. Below, 2 triple windows and 2 basement openings. To left again, a larger block. 2 storeys plus basement and attics; 7 window range. Rusticated basement, cornices to each floor, balustrade, mansard roof. Central round oriel window with festooned frieze, with 2 windows and single flanking windows, all 8 pane sashes. On either side, a paired window with scroll pediment, flanked by single windows. Above, a pair of square coped stacks framing a round-headed window with semicircular balustrade. On either side, a large pedimented dormer with a paired window, flanked by single box dormers with 9 pane windows. Elaborate central entrance with round-arched doorway flanked by Doric columns, and broken pediment framing the moulded corbel of the oriel window. Panelled double doors. On either side, 3 paired windows. Basement has 6 segment-headed openings with rusticated keystones. Coped pedimented left gable has 2 windows and above, a paired window flanked by single windows. To left, a 3 bay round-arched open arcade with rusticated plinth and pilasters and balustrade topped with urns, forming a link to the School Board Office building. INTERIOR not inspected. HISTORICAL NOTE: the Sheffield School Board adopted a high standard of architecture from its inception, and employed these well known architects for their most prestigious buildings. They form a homogenous group. Robson also designed 2 Board Schools at Brightside and Heeley Bank (qv), although most were designed by local architects. Mark Firth, prominent steel manufacturer and philanthropist, was the principal benefactor of Firth College. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Yorkshire: The West Riding: London: 1967-: 454; Researches by G Hague, Sheffield City Council).

Listing NGR: SK3524287317

External Links

• Wikidata Q26538964

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