Former Park House Secondary School, Darnall, Sheffield

Summary

Former mixed secondary school. Opened 1964 to designs by Lyons, Israel and Ellis, with job architects Alan Colquhoun, Christopher Dean and Douglas Lanham. Concrete structural frames with infill panels of red Ibstock bricks.

Description

PLAN: at the centre of the school is an open quadrangle around which blocks are placed. On the north, entrance, side is a centrally placed, compact, two-storey staff and library block with an elevated water tower on the roof; on the east side are linked single-storey and two-storey workshop and housecraft blocks; on the south side is a three-storey classroom block; on the W side is a tall, single-storey block containing an assembly hall and adjoining dining hall, with a lower, single-storey kitchen at the north end and single-storey changing rooms and adjoining gymnasium at the south end. The blocks are linked by enclosed, glazed walkways; the main entrance opens into a walkway lobby on the west side of the staff and library block. There is a separate two-storey caretaker’s house and a bicycle store at the north-east side of the site.

EXTERIOR: a unifying elevational scheme has been used for all the blocks, which are of varying dimensions. This comprises exposed frames of white concrete with slender vertical piers and thicker floor and roof plates. The non-structural elements are slightly recessed with infill panels of red Ibstock brick and strip windows with narrow, concrete sill bands which wrap round outer corners of the buildings. The windows have timber frames with metal, central-pivoting opening lights.

The two-storey staff and library block faces the entrance off Bawtry Road with a rectangular front range linked to an L-shaped range to its rear, flanking the quadrangle. The outer, north elevation of the front range has deeper first-floor windows than those on the ground floor. They wrap round the outer corners before stepping up for the rest of the side elevations. Set back from the roof of the front range is a rectangular water tower raised above the roofline on concrete columns. Adjacent is a tall, square concrete chimney.

The east workshop and housecraft block has a single-storey range on the north side linked to a larger, two-storey range. Both ranges have projecting cubes of bays separated by indented corridors and entrances.

The south classroom block is a large, three-storey, rectangular block with individual classrooms divided by indents which introduce light from different angles into the rooms.

On the west side of the complex is a large rectangular block of a tall, single-storey containing an assembly hall and dining hall. The centre of the outer, west elevation has full-height glazing continued at first-floor level at the left-hand, north end. The kitchen range is a lower, single-storey rectangular block at the north end. The attached, rectangular gymnasium at the S end has a strip of high-level windows in its outer, west elevation with narrow, vertical windows alternating with opaque, vertical panels. On the south side is a lower, single-storey changing room block. The outer, south elevation has two strips of small windows beneath the roof plate with two doorways located towards the outer corners (both now blocked).

The four blocks are linked by enclosed walkways. Historic photographs show that these walkways, and the indented corridors in the buildings, were fully glazed with horizontal timber bands. In the majority of walkways the glazing has been largely replaced by timber panels painted dark brown. The main north entrance opens into a walkway lobby on the right-hand, west side of the staff and library block. The double doors are sheltered by a free-standing concrete canopy supported by four concrete posts.

INTERIOR: inside, the concrete frames are also exposed with red Ibstock brick walls. The assembly hall has walkways around three sides of the sunken hall floor with herringbone parquet floors and railings to the insides with rectangular timber rails on circular, metal balusters. The walkways have lino tiles. The staircases have solid concrete balustrades running diagonally between vertical, structural columns.

SUBSIDIARY ITEMS: the separate caretaker’s house is of two-storeys with a flat, concrete roof. It is built of Ibstock bricks with strips of windows with concrete sill bands. The long bike shed is similarly built of Ibstock bricks with a concrete roof. It has brick pavilions at either end with a recessed centre to the front elevation, now boarded up.

History

Park House Secondary School is recorded as under construction in February 1962 and opened in 1964. It was designed by the architectural practice of Lyons, Israel and Ellis, with the job architects Alan Colquhoun, Christopher Dean and Douglas Lanham.

The school was built for the City of Sheffield Education Committee as a mixed four-form entry secondary school accommodating 680 pupils. It was located on a plateau on the crest of a steeply falling site off Bawtry Road on the east side of the city and was laid out with a ‘campus’ plan featuring four detached blocks clustered round a quadrangle and linked by glazed walkways. Rather than an entrance hall, it had an entrance lobby which connected to the circulation system, a characteristic feature of schools designed by this practice. It was built in the New Brutalist idiom of which Lyons, Israel and Ellis were noted exponents, with exposed frames of white concrete and recessed infill panels of red Ibstock bricks consistently used for all the blocks. A prominent water tower adding a vertical emphasis is a characteristic feature of the practice.

The school closed in 1995. From 2002-2014 the school was again in educational use as Jamia Al-Hudaa (Sheffield), an independent Muslim boarding school for boys of 11 to 18 years old. It has been vacant since 2014.

Lyons, Israel and Ellis (LIE) were a well-respected architectural practice specialising in educational design and were noted as a training ground for architects of the calibre of James Stirling, James Gowan, Neave Brown, Alan Colquhoun, John Miller, Christopher Dean, Richard MacCormac and Rich Mather. The practice has a number of listed buildings to their name, including two schools; Upholland High School, Lancashire (1958-1960,Grade II); Oldbury Wells School, Bridgnorth, Shropshire (1957-1958, 1959-1960, Grade II).

Reasons for Listing

The former Park House Secondary School, Tinsley, opened in 1964 to designs by the architectural practice Lyons, Israel and Ellis (LIE), with job architects Alan Colquhoun, Christopher Dean and Douglas Lanham, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* Design: as a strong representative example of the New Brutalist idiom of school building of which Lyons, Israel and Ellis were noted exponents, the in-situ construction of exposed concrete frames and red Ibstock bricks clearly referencing Le Corbusier’s Maisons Jaoul, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France;
* Aesthetic quality: the rigorous application of an elevational scheme across all components brings a consistency to blocks of varying dimensions with the strong geometric quality of the cubed design dramatically emphasized by the bold colour palette of white concrete framing and red brick infill, a robustness of approach complimented by a sophisticated attention to detail;
* Degree of survival: the integrity of the building remains with the layout and bold design of the school surviving largely as built;

Historic interest:

* Architects: the school is designed by Lyons, Israel and Ellis, a well-respected architectural practice specialising in educational design with whom many notable architects trained including the job architects here, Alan Colquhoun, Christopher Dean and Douglas Lanham, who all went on to have distinguished architectural careers;
* Planning: articulated as a series of free-standing blocks arranged in a ‘campus’ plan around an open quadrangle and linked by glazed walkways to create a less institutional building whilst exploiting natural light to all areas, good acoustic insulation and selective community use.

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