Description

SO9496 WINDSOR STREET
895-1/15/10038 Bilston
01-AUG-00 The former Bilston Girls High School,
[Wolverhampton College]

II

School. 1929-30; by Col G. C. Lowbridge, architect for Staffordshire Education Committee. Red brick with painted stone dressings. Clay plain tile hipped roofs. Brick axial and end stacks with stone cornices.
PLAN: The main front and side classroom ranges are built around two courts separated by a central hall, and with lower classroom ranges and an art room at the back.
Neo-Georgian style.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3:9:5:9:3 bay SE front. The end and centre bays project, the 5-bay centre advanced again by a 3-bay pedimented centrepiece with a modillion cornice; the projecting bays have giant Composite pilasters. The pediment at the centre contains a coat of arms and the doorway below has a moulded architrave with a scrolled open pediment, panelled double doors and an overlight; stringcourse at first floor level and tall 15-pane sashes in exposed cases. 3:5:3 bay left [SW] elevation, the end bays with similar giant pilasters. The right [NE] elevation is only eight bays. At the rear there are lower single-storey ranges enclosing two courts separated by a large hall with big round-headed windows with glazing bars; around the courts are glazed cloisters and behind the school there is the detached art room with a tall lateral chimney stack.
INTERIOR: Entrance vestibule with pilasters and square piers supporting a coffered ceiling. Hall has broad pilasters, a moulded cornice and a segmental vaulted plaster ceiling; the gallery has been partitioned from the auditorium. The library is above the entrance in the front range.

Included as a particularly imposing example of a local authority high school of the inter-war period; these buildings were in the vanguard of state secondary education to an advanced level for girls.

Listing NGR: SO9438496938

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26661269

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

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  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
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  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability