Description

READING

934/0/10071 OXFORD ROAD
31-MAR-05 Oxford Road Primary School

II
Board school, 1880-83 by Morris and Stallwood, extended 1894 by Stallwood. Red brick, red brick and tile dressings, tile roofs and ridge cresting. Two buildings, later linked by corridor.

Infant and nursery block, staff room and offices. Asymmetrical plan. One and a half storey gabled wing housing two classrooms set forward to left of single storey hall/schoolroom. Set forward to right, three stage stair tower and flush with it, two and a half storey gabled wing, housing possibly the headteacher's accommodation, first floor staff room and classrooms. Pointed arched entrance to tower under single continuous brick hoodmould. Vertically boarded door. Tower has slightly splayed tile roof surmounted by finial. All windows are small paned timber casements and fixed lights. Those to left hand wing and upper floor of right hand wing are in rectangular openings; ground and first floor windows of right wing are under cambered arches. Hall/schoolroom has pair of three x three light windows under overlight with shaped head flanked by tile hung panels within slightly pointed reveal; each under gable with moulded brick face and drip mould. Pair of rectangular windows to right. Dormer to hall, almost an equilateral triangle, slightly splayed, has two-light small paned casements in rendered face, set below tile hung gablet. Similar dormer to left return. Small tile hung lantern with timber frame supporting pitched tile roof with cresting and small finial. Slender brick ridge stacks, that to right reduced. Gables to wings are tile hung with pronounced tile drip mould. Continuous slender moulded brick storey and cill bands to right hand wing and tower.

Rear. Two and a half storey left hand wing has small paned rectangular windows, the central windows under flush cambered relieving arches. Hall/schoolroom has tall central gabled window flanked by near rectangular windows. Pair of gabled wings diminishing in size, each with small paned windows under hood moulds, altered doorway to left hand wing. All wings with moulded brick cornices and kneelers.

Junior block. Two parallel two storey ranges housing rear halls with classrooms to south. Roadside elevation: three gabled bays flanked by pitched roofed bay to left and lower bay of two and a half storeys to right with gabled return and gabletted full dormer to front. Gabled bays are symmetrical, central bay with tripartite windows, the outer bays of two windows, set between pilaster strips. All windows are small paned timber casements or fixed lights. Upper floor of gabled bays have pointed arched windows under slender continous hoodmoulds. Small gable lights similarly picked out. Left hand bay has wavy hoodmould over ground floor windows. Plain pointed arched doorway to right hand bay. Continuous cill and storey bands and moulded brick eaves and kneelers to all elevations. Left hand return. Offset stack rises from first floor against rear pitch of roof and flanking windows. Rear hall range under separate pitched roof. Two storeys, eight symmetrical bays. Two tall central first floor gabled windows flanked by near rectangular windows. Ground floor windows below, under raised shaped hoodmould. Slender gable stack; reduced stacks between the ranges. Reduced octagonal lantern on splayed rectangular tile hung base.

Interiors.

Infants and nursery.
Original schoolroom has sliding partition. Left wing has upper section of former partition. Two pairs of former possibly external glazed doors. Most rooms retain chimneypieces, the earlier model with shouldered architrave the later model with splayed architrave. Most retain chimney breast ventilation grilles. Staff room chimneypiece, of the later model retains cast iron grate. Roofs with exposed trusses remain under suspended ceilings. Vertically boarded doors with shaped heads and ornate strap hinges and handles. Tower stair of square newels with ball finials and moulded drop finials, stick balusters rounded rail.

Juniors.
Eight bay halls each have two chimneypieces. Upper hall now subdivided. Classrooms each have angle chimneypiece, most with ventilation grilles. Classroom chimneypieces have shouldered architraves, hall chimneypieces are splayed. All rooms have suspended ceilings, under roofs with exposed trusses. Vertically boarded doors with shaped heads and ornate strap hinges and handles. Part glazed panelled doors.

Three bay corridor with exposed trussed roof links the two buildings.

Attached perimeter wall and railings to Oxford Road elevation. Brick parapet wall and square piers with facetted caps. Cast iron railings and gates of paired shafts with trefoil heads above small quatrefoil panels, alternate with rectangular panels with spiral.

Oxford Road Primary School is an impressive group of buildings set behind contemporary wall and railings. Built in 1880-3 by Morris and Stallwood extended by Stallwood in 1894 they form a homogenous architectural group and a fine example of educational history. The architects, among the most successful in Reading, were accomplished builders of schools, combining current thinking in education and social reform with architectural skill.

Of all the later C19 schools in Reading this is one of the most intact and inspired architecturally. In educational terms it comes after the first wave of post 1870 schools such as Coley and Katesgrove, and shows considerable advances in school design for its date. The schoolroom becomes replaced by the hall, with classrooms off it. Rooms are becoming adaptable, larger and lighter. It is listed for its combined architectural and historical importance.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672068

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

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)