Description

WALSALL

1690/0/10052 WEST BROMWICH ROAD
27-MAY-05 Whitehall Schools

II
School Building. 1899. F.E.F.Bailey and McConnal. The building is of red, English-bond brick with terracotta dressings and a plain tile roof [parts of which have been replaced]. The building is single-storeyed with a longitudinal corridor plan with classrooms to either side. There is a long, near-symmetrical, facade to the West Bromwich Road with a central projecting bay which is gabled and has polygonal panelled buttresses at its outer corners. Above is a shaped gable with, to its apex, an oval panel showing the bear with ragged staff of Staffordshire and the date, 1899. Below is an inscription "WALSALL / SCHOOL BOARD" above a multi-paned central window which has slender lateral lights. At either side of this central feature extend the classroom ranges beneath a deep roof. Paired at either side are arched windows which project into gablets which are flanked by shallow buttresses and have projecting voussoirs and a shaped apex. These are then followed by a cambered-headed multi-pane window at either side and then by a square-headed multi-pane window surmounted by a ramped parapet with ball finials, which projects into the roof area. At far right and left are keyed occuli which have been bricked up. The entrances to the different departments are slightly recessed and have semi-circular arches, above which are shaped gables with the lettering "GIRLS" [at left] and "BOYS" [at right]. To left of the Girls entrance porch is an octagonal candle-snuffer roof and to left of the Boys entrance is a bell tower with polygonal clasping buttresses which end in vase finials. There are balconies to all 4 sides above which are paired, louvred bellcote openings. Above are gablets to each face and a timber, octagonal bellcote with arched openings and a domed lead roof which is surmounted by a weather vane. The long ridge of the main body has a number of small vents with conical caps and an octagonal louvre at the centre in the form of a small bellcote with a domed lead cap.
The rear front has shaped and plain gables to the various classrooms which are also arranged in a long symmetrical front facing the playground. Attached at left of centre by a corridor wing is a two-storey classroom block which appears to date from the 1950s and which is not included as a part of this item.
HISTORY: The building was opened in 1899 as a Board School for Whitehall, Walsall to accommodate 1,070 children. A competition had been organised in 1897 and won by the local architectural practice of Bailey and McConnal. The school was to have two departments; a mixed section for 390 boys and 330 girls and a separate infants section for 350 children. The mixed section was built first and is described here. At first it housed both functions with 310 boys, 250 girls and 205 infants sharing the space before the infants section was built to the rear of the site a few years later, in a less architecturally ambitious style. The school was fitted out with gas lighting and the overall cost for the building was c.£8,500. The opening ceremony was recorded in The Walsall Observer and in his speech the Clerk to the School Board stated that this was the eleventh school block that the board had funded and that this, as the best and most expensive, had been seen to merit a formal opening.
Interior: The building has wide corridors with tiled flooring and tiling to the dado and continuous central heating grilles let into the floor. The classrooms and assembly hall have decoratively chamfered timbers to the roof trusses.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671998

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

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)