Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 17 May 2024 to update the name and address, amend description due to change of building use and to reformat the text to current standards

TO 27 SW
3/100

SCOTT AVENUE
Gilbert Scott Building
Former Whitelands College

(Formerly listed as WHITELANDS COLLEGE, SUTHERLAND GROVE)

GV
II
Former teacher training college, converted to residential use in 2005. 1928-30 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for Whitelands College and in collaboration with the principal Miss Winifred Mercier. Reinforced concrete clad in handmade red brick. Hipped pantile roofs. Brick and stone dressings.

Block plan, integrating teaching and living accommodation in one building. Symmetrical on plan, with central axial corridor on line with chapel (qv 3/20). Principal elevation to south symmetrical, in five storeys but terraced, and appearing as one, one and three storeys. Central tower to rear block. Forward wings to left and right terminating in five storey blocks treated as pavilions and linked by terraces at two levels across the main elevation. Three storey, three bay wings on same plane to left and right, while further forward wings of similar proportions terminate the block to left and right. Two storey elevations open on to internal wells between the terraces, outer angle of end wings and of central forward three bays have banded rusticated brick quoins or bases. Similar detailing between the ground floor bays of five storey pavilions. Ground floor treated as if an arcade, with semicircular headed French windows of timber, small paned with enlivening motif to the transom in Cape Dutch manner.

Upper floors mainly timber small-paned sashes, but with timber small-paned French windows leading on to the terraces. Central tower has tripartite small-paned sashes, the upper windows beneath sunk tympanum, detailed in brickwork, and beneath loggia, in Tuscan manner, the roof surmounted by a finial. Upper storeys to left and right, each on four bay loggia with stone dressed brick piers supporting a hipped roof. Similar three bay loggias to fourth storey of forward pavilions each supporting stone entablature beneath brick parapet with plain stone coping. Three by three fifth storey, set back beneath separate hipped roof surmounted by finial. Pierced brickwork balustrades to loggias and terraces. Ground floor windows to inner wells have fanlights with radial glazing bars above French windows. To front, stone steps with brick and stone dressed retaining walls descend to terraced lawns.

North elevation: mainly in four storeys, the central block set forward, and with banded rusticated brick quoins and stone band above. Basement storey. Similar detailing to south elevation but plainer. Small paned sashes. Central entrance beneath canopy linking to chapel.

Interior: axial corridor, with dining hall and assembly hall with balconied stage to left and right. Central common room overlooking south elevation, largely unaltered including fireplaces with Dutch tiles. Library resited but fittings reused, and some of ornamental work retained. Most classrooms and lecture rooms to south front are slightly altered. Much of basic fitted furniture and gas fireplaces to student bedrooms remain in situ.

Listing NGR: TQ2442974015

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26640185

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

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)