Dining Hall, Lord Wandsworth College, Long Sutton, Hampshire

Summary

Lord Wandsworth College Dining Hall and offices, built 1925-1926 to the designs of Guy Dawber.

Description

Dining Hall and offices, built 1925-1926 to the designs of Guy Dawber.

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

PLAN: rectangular plan with attic storey, two-storeys to the northern extension block of 1982 (excluded from the coverage of this List entry). Internally, the space has been recently (2018-19) opened up to form a large dining room with kitchen service areas to the north. The attic spaces are accessed from the north of the building (the extension block), the central valley of the roof having been filled in during the recent works to provide additional staff rooms.

EXTERIOR: the southern elevation of the building has five bays. Four twelve-light sash windows sit on either side of the main entrance. Above the sash windows are flat-gauged brick arches. The central two sash windows and door are framed by four double sets of plain stone pilasters, joining a stepped stone pediment with a central wreath. Running behind this is a brick parapet, which follows the return of the main elevation to the west. Three dormer windows are set behind the pediment. The western elevation also has a dormer window on the corner behind the parapet, with a door into the dining room set beneath. Attached to this elevation is the 2018-19 glazed dining room extension, which is recessed back from the main elevation (excluded from this List entry). On the other side of the extension are a further two sash windows and one dormer window.

The eastern elevation is plainer, with a single dormer window on the corner with the main elevation and a door below. The elevation has a further two doors, divided by two modern sash windows. These doors are used as the main entrance and exit to the dining room. Queuing railings and a curved awning have been placed in front of this elevation (excluded from this List entry).

INTERIOR: the internal spaces have been comprehensively redeveloped as part of the work of 2018-19, with the main interior spaces to the south of the building forming the two main dining areas, with kitchens accommodated at the rear. The main dining areas retain their original exposed roof structure, but otherwise the interiors are modern. The sash windows which were in the western brick wall have been removed to form openings into the new glass extension.

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.

Following the War, the Trust fell back on a more modest scheme of development. The shortage of labour and heightened building costs made returning to Dawber’s 1915 plans impracticable and, in March 1921, the Trust dispensed of his services. Instead, a campaign of building simple cottages was embarked upon (planned to be built in phases to the designs of H P G Maulle), partly in accordance with the stipulations of the bequest which set out this favoured model of development, but also undoubtedly influenced by the need for economy at this time. This piecemeal approach was however to be short-lived. In 1922, the appointment of the first Warden, Colonel William Julyan, brought about a more ambitious programme of works. Under Julyan’s tenure (1922-30) there was a focus on formalising the Foundation’s educational programme and arranging the college along more conventional lines; an approach influenced by Julyan’s own time at Oxford and training in Agricultural Law at Gray’s Inn. Julyan held reservations about the Trust’s existing arrangement of housing boys in separate cottages, describing the conditions as ‘Spartan in the extreme’ and claiming the system was impractical owing to the lack of suitable housemasters. Consequently, from 1923, a return to an arrangement along the lines of Dawber’s 1915 plans, albeit in a scaled-back manner, was advocated. Dawber was reappointed and initially plans were produced in for a dining hall in May 1925 which was to serve as a social centre for the college (meals having previously been taken in individual cottages). This was completed in 1926 and its design followed the form of his earlier Administration Block, building on the main axis of the earlier masterplan, thus giving some order and balance to the site arrangement. Subsequent proposals for a large hall and dedicated library were ruled out by the Trust, but plans by Dawber of June 1926 for a Recreation and Classroom Block (the present library block) were realised, as were 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), which together form the present core grouping of college buildings.

The plans for the dining hall produced by Dawber in May 1925 describe the building as a ‘Dining Hall and Museum Block’, with class rooms to the east of the front range and a reading room to the west. The museum block occupied the attic storey of the front range of the block. The assortment of rooms integrated within the building appears to have been the outcome of a compromise between Colonel Julyan and the Lord Wandsworth Trustees: early proposals made by Julyan for a large hall and library along with a dining hall had been rejected by the Trustees who were conscious of the costs of such an extensive scheme. The integration of teaching, reading and dining rooms within one compact building appears to have been the resolution reached by the two parties. It is clear that Julyan was involved in shaping the designs for the new building in 1925 and that he sought to emulate the atmosphere and arrangement of a collegiate hall for the new school’s new dining room. Julyan had personally procured the oak for the panelling of the dining room and arranged a visit for Dawber to University College, Oxford to draw inspiration for the arrangement and furnishings for the proposed hall (Podger, p45-46).

As additional buildings were built around the site, including dedicated classrooms, recreation rooms and boarding houses, the assortment of rooms provided by the 1926 Dawber building were no longer considered the best use of the space. In 1936, the dining hall was expanded to include space for a Master’s high table, through the removal of the reading room at the south end of the western range. Further changes were made in the 1960s, with a secondary dining hall converted from the classrooms to the east, whilst the upper room (originally the museum) to the front range was converted to provide a staff common room in around 1963. A more substantial period of expansion was undertaken in 1982, with the refurbishment of the dining halls and the construction of a two-storey dining, kitchen and office block completed to accommodate the growing college. The most recent phase of work to the dining halls was carried out in 2018-19, with the glazed extension added (excluded from the coverage of this List entry) to the west elevation of the building, with the ground-floor canteen/dining hall refurbished and the kitchens upgraded as part of this work.

Reasons for Listing

The Dining Hall 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 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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