Victoria Schools, Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire

Description

1063/0/10007 STANLEY ROAD
20-MAY-08 VICTORIA SCHOOLS
MILL ROAD
VICTORIA SCHOOLS
GORDON ROAD
VICTORIA SCHOOLS

GV II
Board schools, 1895 by W. Talbot Brown for the Wellingborough School Board. Queen Anne style, with Elizabethan and Jacobean detailing. Infants school now in use as an education centre.

MATERIALS: Red brick with stone dressings. Red tile roofs with lead cladding on cupolas.

PLAN: There are two detached buildings for juniors and infants. The junior school is the larger of the two and comprises a double-height central hall with single-storey classroom/office ranges on four sides and a plenum tower. The girls' entrance is on the east side facing Stanley Road, next to a cookery block. The boys' entrance is on the west side facing Gordon Road. The infants school has a double-height central hall with single-storey classroom/office ranges on three sides, and an entrance on Stanley Road.

EXTERIOR: The junior school has three principal elevations facing the surrounding roads, and one secondary elevation facing the playground.

The Mill Road elevation is dominated by the roofline of the central hall, which has a bell-cote on its left side and a striking octagonal plenum tower attached to the right. The top stage of the tower has eight round-arched openings with banded stone and red brick columns in between, carved stone festoons and cherubs below, and a stone dentil course above. The tower is surmounted by a banded stone and red brick spire with a miniature stone lantern. The wooden bell-cote is octagonal and has a balustrade and dentilated eaves. It is surmounted by a lead-clad cupola and spire and sits on a square lead-clad base. In front of the central hall is a single-storey classroom range with a hipped roof and spike-and-ball leaded finials. This range has four cross-gables with cat slides in between, so that it presents a straight front to the road. The two central cross-gables are larger and have three tall sash and pivot windows with glazing bars, above which is a round window with glazing bars surrounded by a square stone moulding with scrolled top. The smaller cross-gables have two sash and pivot windows each. Between the gables and at the sides there are cast-iron rainwater heads decorated with Tudor roses, masks and fleurs-de-lys. On either side of this range and set back from it are the end gables of the east and west ranges, each with three segmental-headed sash and pivot windows and a round window above with stone surround. On the far right is the flank of the cookery block which has a single window.

The Stanley Road elevation has a single-storey classroom range with a gabled roof and chimney stack, and two cross-gables: one forming the girls' entrance block and the other the cookery block. The two-storey entrance block has a round-arched porch with a Renaissance-style moulded stone surround on the left, three small windows to the right, and three segmental-headed windows flanked by brick pilasters on the first floor. The gable has stone banding, a segmental stone pediment, and a round window with glazing bars and square moulded stone surround. The cookery block has three tall sash windows on its gable end, with a small three-light rectangular window above, surrounded by brick pilasters and mouldings. This block has its own chimney stack and an angled entrance porch on the right side, with a round-arched door, stone mouldings and ball finials. On the wall above the porch is an ornate cast-iron rainwater head dated '1895'.

The main feature of the Gordon Road elevation is the projecting gable end of the boys' entrance block, which is a slightly more ornate version of the girls' entrance. It has a round-arched porch on the right with a Renaissance-style moulded stone surround and three windows to the left. Above is a wide stone band, carved in relief over the porch with the inscription 'BOYS' flanked by Elizabethan strapwork motifs. On the first floor, five sash windows are framed by brick pilasters and surmounted by a stone cornice. The gable has stone banding, a segmental stone pediment, and a relief stone plaque with egg-and-dart moulding around the inscription 'VICTORIA BOARD SCHOOLS BUILT 1895'. The single-storey range to the right of the entrance block has a cross-gable with two large sash and pivot windows, while the two-storey range to the left has a small round window with stone surround on the upper floor and a chimney stack with stone banding. Behind the entrance block is the end gable of the central hall, which has a three-light rectangular window with an arched brick moulding above, paraphrasing a Serliana window.

The playground elevation is a plainer echo of the Mill Road elevation, without the stone detailing.

The principal elevation of the infants school faces Stanley Road. It has a two-storey central section with a double-gabled roof, a round-arched door and a stone plaque inscribed 'INFANTS' in relief. There are three round-arched windows on the ground floor and six sash windows on the first floor. To the right and left there are projecting single-storey gabled blocks, each with three tall segmental-headed sash/pivot windows and a round window above with stone surround. There are two tall chimney stacks on the roof. The west elevation of the infants school, facing the playground, reveals the gable end of the central hall which has two large round-arched windows with a buttress in between, flanked by two smaller gable ends. On the roof of the central hall there is an octagonal wooden bell-cote surmounted by a lead-clad cupola and spire and sitting on an octagonal lead-clad base. The single-storey block with corrugated roof attached to the south of the infants school, and the covered play area and dividing playground wall on the west side, are in their original position but have undergone alterations. The two small single-storey plant blocks attached to the building on the west side are later additions and are not of special interest.

INTERIOR: The most significant feature is the impressive double-height central hall in the junior school. This has a high barrel-vaulted roof with timber trusses springing from carved brackets. The cast iron tie-rods have floriated connectors. The end walls have single large round-arched windows with patterned leaded lights and coloured margin-panes. The side walls have clerestoreys of six round-arched windows with glazing bars. At the west end of the hall there is a mezzanine gallery with a Queen Anne-style balustrade. At the east end there is a canted oriel look-out window with leaded lights, which was accessed via a staircase adjacent to the schoolmaster's study. The walls at ground floor level are covered in high-quality moulded panelling, with matching cupboards and glazed partitions to the classrooms. The classrooms have semi-glazed panelled doors, exposed roof braces on ornate brackets, and the original opening mechanisms for the pivot windows. Other features of interest in the junior school include the staircase up to the gallery which has Queen Anne-style balusters, and the staircase window with its Art Nouveau patterned leading and coloured margin-panes.

The central hall in the infants school is a simpler and smaller version of the junior one, though still grand for an infants school. The roof has depressed arch braces and carved brackets, and tie-rods with floriated connectors. At the west end there is a pair of large round-arched windows with glazing bars, while at the east end there is a gallery with a stick balustrade. Behind the balustrade there is at present a temporary wooden partition. Along the sides of the hall there are clerestoreys and part-panelled glazed partitions to the classrooms, and one side also has a panelled cupboard. Other features of note in the infants school include the staircase to the gallery which has stick balusters, and two fireplaces in the classrooms with Renaissance-style carved timber surrounds (one temporarily covered).

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Red brick entrance gateway with moulded stone dressings on Gordon Road. Red brick piers with moulded stone caps on Gordon Road, Stanley Road and the north side of the playground. Some surviving sections of wrought and cast iron railings on Stanley Road and attached to the boys' entrance on Gordon Road. Red brick walls on the east and west sides of the playground, with moulded brick coping and buttresses. Other sections of wall are later additions and not of special interest.

HISTORY: Victoria Schools were designed by Walter Talbot Brown for the Wellingborough School Board and opened in 1895. The unprecedented rate of expansion of Northamptonshire towns such as Wellingborough, Kettering and Rushden in the late C19 and early C20 was due to the wealth generated by boot and shoe production. On the 1888 Ordnance Survey map, the area to the north of Mill Road is occupied by vacant fields. By the second edition map of 1900, Victoria Schools appear on the north side of the road, surrounded by small boot and shoe factories and terraced housing for the workers whose children attended the schools. By the third edition map of 1925, the boot and shoe factories have been enlarged and the terraced housing expanded further. The wealth and civic pride generated by the Wellingborough boot and shoe industry are reflected in the high quality of craftsmanship and materials of Victoria Schools and the Board's choice of architect.

Walter Talbot Brown had been articled to E. F. Law of Northampton in 1869-74, and commenced independent practice in Wellingborough in 1876 or 1877. From 1880 he was in partnership with James William Fisher (1857-1936). He was made an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1880 and a Fellow in 1894. He attended every sketching excursion of the Architectural Association from 1870 to 1914 and was considered 'an acknowledged authority on English work in planning, detail, furniture fabrics, embroidery, colour decoration, metal work, and glass'. He collaborated with John Alfred Gotch on the seminal work Architecture of the Renaissance in England, published in six parts in 1891-4 and as a two-volume book in 1894. When Talbot Brown died in 1931, he was described by The Builder as 'a notable figure in the development of English architecture, particularly in the country district of Northampton'. His work was considered of 'a high and personal nature', although his 'retiring disposition' prevented it from being as well known as it should be. He designed many new houses, schools and churches in Northamptonshire, restored several medieval churches and was responsible for over thirty First World War memorials.

SOURCES:
Ordnance Survey maps 1888, 1900, 1925.
Nikolaus Pevsner and Bridget Cherry, Buildings of England: Northamptonshire (Penguin, 1973), 454.
J. Alfred Gotch, assisted by W. Talbot Brown, Architecture of the Renaissance in England, 2 vols. (London: Batsford, 1894).
'Obituary of W. Talbot Brown FRIBA', The Builder, Vol. 141 (28 August 1931), 336.
RIBA, Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 (Continuum, 2001), Vol. 1, 277.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
Victoria Schools are designated at grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* Opened in 1895, they are an impressive example of a late C19 provincial board school, with three handsome street frontages, two cupolas and a striking plenum tower
* The design was by Walter Talbot Brown, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects with a number of listed buildings to his name
* The high-quality Elizabethan and Jacobean decorations owe their inspiration to his collaboration with J. A. Gotch on Architecture of the Renaissance in England, published in 1891-4
* Both the junior and infants schools have double-height central halls with elaborate interiors, that of the junior school being particularly fine
* The schools are remarkably unaltered and retain all their original features including panelling, glazed screens, cupboards, doors and windows
* The quality of craftsmanship and materials reflects the wealth and civic pride generated by the Northamptonshire boot and shoe industry
* The schools are still surrounded by their original context of terraced housing and boot and shoe factory buildings

Reasons for Listing

* Opened in 1895, they are an impressive example of a late C19 provincial board school, with three handsome street frontages, two cupolas and a striking plenum tower
* The design was by Walter Talbot Brown, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects with a number of listed buildings to his name
* The high-quality Elizabethan and Jacobean decorations owe their inspiration to his collaboration with J. A. Gotch on Architecture of the Renaissance in England, published in 1891-4
* Both the junior and infants schools have double-height central halls with elaborate interiors, that of the junior school being particularly fine
* The schools are remarkably unaltered and retain all their original features including panelling, glazed screens, cupboards, doors and windows
* The quality of craftsmanship and materials reflects the wealth and civic pride generated by the Northamptonshire boot and shoe industry
* The schools are still surrounded by their original context of terraced housing and boot and shoe factory buildings

External Links

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