Former Engineering Block, Lord Wandsworth College, Long Sutton, Hampshire

Summary

Lord Wandsworth College former Engineering Block, built 1915 to the designs of Guy Dawber.

Description

Former Engineering Block, now the Humanities Block, built 1915 to the designs of Guy Dawber.

MATERIALS: walls constructed of red brick, laid in Flemish bond with stone dressings and clay tile pitched roofs.

PLAN: single-storey, U-shaped plan, with two projecting wings running north-south to the rear of the main south-facing range. Two small extensions are attached to the end of both the wings (excluded from this List entry). The interior is divided into classrooms which run in enfilade throughout. The building is set within a small area set to lawn to the south, divided by a central path leading to the main entrance.

EXTERIOR: the southern elevation of the building is the main range. This is formed of a single storey with eleven bays. Five twelve-light arched sash windows sit on either side of the main entrance. Above the sash windows are segmental brick arches and prominent keystones. The main entrance projects slightly and consists of a moulded stone doorcase with a recessed the wood, panelled, main door. Above this is a projecting cornice and classical head. On either side of these are rusticated brick pilasters with stone capitals and a plain stone entablature above. Running above this is a brick parapet, which follows the returns of the main elevation. Above the entrance at parapet level is an open pediment. The pediment is supported by two triglyphs with a central blank circle surmounted by a festoon. Centrally placed in the pitched, hipped roof is a chimney stack of four chimneys which also houses a school bell.

The eastern elevation of the building consists of the return of the main range and the eastern projecting wing. The return of the main range has a door which is used to access one of the classrooms. The single-storey projecting wing consists of six bays with a modern window in each bay set under flat-gauged arches, except for the last bay which has an ocular window. The wing’s roof is formed of a tiled, pitched roof with a gable end to the north elevation. The north elevation has a further ocular window set high, with a small single pitch, lean-to brick extension beneath (excluded from this List entry). The western elevation of this wing faces into the courtyard area, formed by the U-shape plan. It consists of two doors at either end with three altered windows set between. The northernmost door is accessed by a series of three steps, set square to the door.

The rear of the main range (its northern elevation) consists of four arched windows set high in the wall, with segmental brick arches above. In the middle of these windows is an ocular window with a modern wood and glazed door below.

The western elevation of the building consists of the return of the main range and the western projecting wing. The return of the main range has a modern wooden door accessed by a series of five modern steps. Above this door is a keyed ocular window. To the left of this is an arched, twelve-light sash window with a segmental brick arch and prominent keystone, with the parapet running above this. The western, single-storey, projecting wing is formed of five bays with modern replacement windows in each with flat-gauged arches. The northern return elevation consists of the gable end with an ocular window set high within the gable. Attached to this, and set lower, is a later single-storey brick extension for the WCs (excluded from this List entry).

INTERIOR: the internal spaces have been comprehensively remodelled since 2010. The classrooms all have new wall and floor finishes with ceiling stiles and modern fixtures and fittings. None of the early internal fittings remain visible, although some may remain behind the modern decoration.

History

Lord Wandsworth College was established with money left by Sydney James Stern, Baron Wandsworth (1844-1912), a banker and MP who was raised to the peerage in 1895. As a Liberal MP for the rural Suffolk constituency of Stowmarket, Stern had taken an interest in agricultural affairs and had been committed to improving the living conditions of the rural poor, introducing three Bills on Better Housing of the Working Classes in Rural Districts in the 1890s. Upon his death in 1912, the majority of his £1.25 million fortune was allocated for a residential institution for the benefit of the rural poor, where ‘scientific and practical training will be given in every branch connected with Agriculture’ (quoted in Podger, pp16-17). In accordance with the stipulations set out in the bequest, a committee formed of various experts in the fields of agricultural management, finance and education was established to oversee the foundation and guide its development. The initial question of the site for the ‘Lord Wandsworth Orphanage’, as it was originally termed, was considered by the Trust in 1913. The Long Sutton estate was chosen from a shortlist in August and acquired in October the same year. At the time of purchase the site was comprised of 950 acres of arable land, with the main Sutton House and its associated farm buildings situated to the south and Hyde Farm and its various buildings set to the west. Bennet’s Field, which occupied the main right of way to Hyde Farm, was subsequently purchased in October 1917. The estate was reported to be in poor condition in 1913, with 17 existing cottages on the estate found to be ‘unfit for human habitation’ and the land and hedges in a ‘dreadful condition’ (Kinney, p43); the state of Long Sutton at this stage reflecting the decades of depression that had severely affected agriculture across the country.

The Lord Wandsworth Foundation was originally conceived along the lines of a model village, with the intention being that small groups of children would reside in cottages overseen by a housemaster and be taught on the farm and at a central school house. Trustees met in January 1914 to consider the layout of the site and instigate an initial building programme. Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) was appointed to advise the Trust and was given responsibility for selecting an architect to create plans for new buildings under his direction. The architect that Blomfield recommended to the Trust, selected in July 1914 from a field of five candidates, was Guy Dawber (1861-1938); a former President of the Architectural Association, principally known for his designs for many small country houses and writings on vernacular architecture. The earliest work on the estate was divided, apparently with ‘some friction’, between the two architects (Podger, p20). Blomfield assumed responsibility for the lodge and main entrance gates, for which plans were produced in July 1914. In the same year Blomfield also designed Shepewood House and several estate cottages. Additionally, in collaboration with C S Orwin (Director of the Institute for Agricultural Economics at Oxford), he produced plans for the extensive Hyde Farm buildings to the west of the site. Dawber’s early work included a power house and laundry block, designs being produced in February 1915, along with a series of cottages completed by October 1916. Plans for a grand range of school buildings produced by Dawber, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1915, were interrupted by the outbreak of war with only the Administration and Engineering Blocks completed. Further buildings were constructed to Dawber's designs into the 1920s, including School House and Junior House.

As one of the first earliest school buildings for the Lord Wandsworth Foundation, Dawber’s Engineering Block, along with Blomfield’s gates and lodge to the north, set the architectural tone for the rest of the college. With the adjacent (western) Administration Block it formed the west side of the main range of Dawber’s planned courtyard of 1915, mirroring the proposed but ultimately unrealised laboratory and chapel on the east side. Construction was underway in 1915 and upon completion the two blocks stood in relative isolation. It was not until 1925, under the first Warden, Colonel William Julyan, that plans were produced by Dawber for a dining hall to the east of the Engineering Block. This re-established the main axis of the earlier masterplan and, along with Dawber’s southern gates, brought some order and balance to the site arrangement, as had been intended in the original scheme. Further plans by Dawber of June 1926 for classrooms and recreation rooms (the present library block) were subsequently approved, as were his plans for Senior (now School) House (first signed September 1926 and revised January 1927) and Junior House, to the west of the site (April 1928). Together these buildings form the present core grouping of college buildings, marking the transition of the Lord Wandsworth Foundation from a residential institution with scattered cottages based loosely on the model village principles of the later C19, towards a more conventional public school with boarding houses and communal facilities.

Since completion of the Engineering Block there have been several later campaigns of building work. An early adaptation of the building to provide bathing facilities in the northern ranges of the block appears to have been undertaken in around 1922 (Podger, p43). In 1964-66 the block was converted for use as classrooms and a library, as part of a phase of works to expand the college overseen by the then Headmaster, Alexander Henderson. The rooms converted at this time were listed as including two form rooms, visitors’ changing rooms, carpentry and metal workshops and a range of store areas to the rear (The Sower, 1966, p34). It is probable that this phase of work also entailed the replacement of the glazed ridge section of the roof, which was covered with clay tiles to match the original roof profile. In 1980-81, the western range of the building was extended to provide the toilet block and it is probable that the lean-to bicycle store to the east was also added at this stage. Following this work, in December 1983, plans were put forward to move the library to the former gymnasium building to the east; this leaving the eastern range of the former Engineering Block free to be converted to classrooms; work which was subsequently undertaken in 1986. Internally, the classrooms have been refurbished and fitted-out to modern specifications in recent years.

Reasons for Listing

The former Engineering Block at Lord Wandsworth College is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an accomplished and finely detailed work drawing on vernacular and classical architectural traditions, built to the designs of Guy Dawber, a leading architect of the period;

Historic interest:

* as a well-preserved, early component of an important educational trust focussed on agricultural training, established as a legacy of the Liberal politician and philanthropist Sydney James Stern, Baron Wandsworth (1844-1912);

Group value:

* with the other early Lord Wandsworth College buildings, particularly the adjacent core college buildings also by Dawber. The buildings throughout the estate have a strong collective value, demonstrating careful planning by Blomfield and Dawber, manifest in the varied yet harmonious arrangement of distinguished buildings which draw on vernacular and classical traditions.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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