Description

STOCKPORT

701/0/10037
13-JUN-07

HARDMAN STREET
(East side)
HOLLYWOOD PARK CENTRE (formerly Hollywood Park Council School)

II

Former junior and senior council school, 1906, by Cheers & Smith of Blackburn and Twickenham. Red brick with buff terracotta dressings, graduated Westmorland slate roofs, red terracotta ridge tiles and red terracotta finials to gables. Tall brick stacks with flared heads. Cast iron railings with Art-Nouveau motifs.

PLAN: Irregular T-shaped plan with senior school occupying the range parallel to the street, and attached junior school set at right-angles to the rear.

EXTERIOR: Symmetrical street elevation, with brick plinth. Two-storey gabled end bay pavilions with terracotta sill bands and moulded string course between ground and first-floor levels. Paired pilasters rising from terracotta scrolled brackets frame large first-floor windows, and support deep overhanging eaves. Gable ends have white plastered tops. Decorative terracotta panel beneath first-floor windows. Narrow windows to outside of pilasters. On inner sides of pavilions are projecting two-storey stair towers, each with tall narrow windows, a deep terracotta frieze with oculus and shaped parapet with terracotta banding and coping, topped by a slate covered needle spire with finial. Entrance doorways to outer side elevations, with fielded-panel and part glazed doors, slate porch supported on carved timber consoles. Single-storey central section with 2 slightly projecting gables with deep overhanging eaves supported on paired timber consoles, a central chimney between them with terracotta cartouche with the date 1906 at its base, and flanked by tall stacks. Flanking bay to each side which breaks through eaves as dormer. Windows are of two types: larger ones in the gables and dormer bays, some with keyed segmental arch tops, having mullion and transoms in wood, 3 lights above with multi-pane glazing, 6 over 6 or 3 over 6 sashes below; smaller windows between with 2 over 4 sashes. Main entrance doorways, with double doors, to rear of range, one to inside of each two-storey wing to end pavilions (north doorway has lost original fielded panel and part glazed doors). Junior school range to rear has irregular gables to south side, with 2 double-door entrances with overhanging gable porches supported on wooden console brackets: fielded-panel and part glazed doors. 3 dormers on north side. Original windows similar to front range.

INTERIOR: Front range has double-height hall running north-south, with hammer-beam roof and timber framing of dark wood, and clerestory windows down each side and at each end. On the west side (fronting the street) are 3 classrooms with diagonal timber ribs to the ceilings supported on moulded corbels. At each end of the hall is a corridor leading to the end pavilions and rear wings. In the centre of the hall's east wall is a corridor into the juniors' hall. On the west wall of the hall is a brass plaque recording the opening of the school in 1907. The end pavilions have classrooms to the front, with large classrooms on the first floors, with decoratively treated timber beams and timber framing, reached by the stairs in the stair towers: the classroom in the south pavilion has 2 large corner fireplaces. The wings to the rear of the end pavilions contain staff accommodation and stairs.
The junior school has a central double-height hall running east-west, with decoratively treated timber trusses with wall posts supported on moulded corbels, and timber framing (now painted white), and clerestory windows down each side and at each end. On the north side are 3 classrooms, with diagonal timber ribs to ceiling (now painted) and on the south side are 1 classroom, 2 corridors to the playground, cloakrooms and ancillary rooms.
Original features include tiling up to dado level (now painted) and parquet flooring (now carpeted) throughout, fielded-panel and part glazed doors, narrow fielded-panel doors connecting classrooms, part-glazed room dividers, corner fireplaces in the classrooms, built-in blackboards, built-in cupboards (with glazed doors now removed), stair handrails and wash basins.

HISTORY: The school was built as a council school in 1906-7, and formed one of a pair of schools designed by Cheers & Smith for the County Borough of Stockport (the other school, which also opened in 1907, is North Reddish Infant and Junior School, Lewis Road, Stockport). The school closed in 1979, and has since been used as a nursery and adult education centre.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE
A former council school incorporating separate accommodation for juniors and seniors, built in 1906-7 to designs by architects Cheers & Smith. The building is a strong representative example of designs of council schools dating from the early C20. The visual impact of the building is enhanced by the use of an inventive Queen Anne style, with close attention to the architectural detailing of both exterior and interiors. In addition the original form of the school survives almost intact from its plan form down to numerous fixtures and fittings relating to its original use. Together, the architecturally distinguished design and well preserved original condition give the building special interest in a national context. A listing of Grade II is therefore recommended.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671379

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)