Description

John R Hill, 1932 with 1958 and several later additions. 2-storey, 15-bay, piend-roofed, prominently sited school with abstracted classical detailing to symmetrical front elevation. Advanced 3-bay end pavilions and slightly advanced 3-bay central section with small pediment. Later 20th century additions to sides and rear. Polished red sandstone ashlar dressings and squared, snecked whinstone; red brick to rear. Red sandstone base course to ground floor windows; horizontal band of grey whinstone between ground and 1st floor windows; projecting 1st floor window cills; eaves cornice;blocking course to end pavilions. Channelled ashlar pilaster quoins; regular fenestration divided by sandstone piers; at centre, end pavilions and side elevations these break whinstone band to form giant pilasters.

SIDES AND REAR: 5-bay entrance elevations to E and W elevations; central pedimented entrance bay with corniced door architrave rising up to 1st floor window; regular fenestration to each side; E elevation partially obscured by later white-rendered addition. Irregularly fenestrated red brick N (rear) elevation with a number of later flat-roofed additions adjoining.

Small-pane glazing in timber-framed windows with tilting upper lights. Graded grey slate roof with metal flashings. Cast-iron rainwater goods with reeded hoppers.

INTERIOR: sliding half-glazed timber-panelled interior doors to S-facing classrooms. Tongue and groove panelling to dado of corridors and, staircases and classrooms. Plain timber balusters to staircases. Some original cloakroom fittings. Fitted gymnasium. 1964 mural in main hall by A Little, A Cockayne, A Dempster and A McNeil

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: probably later 19th century. Coped snecked sandstone boundary wall with later railings between intermittent piers. Stop-chamfered pyramidal-capped gatepiers to S of school.

Statement of Interest

The school occupies a prominent position on the main road through Moffat near the entrance of the town and terminates the view from the N end of the High Street. Its situation and use of a combination of stone that is traditional in Moffat makes it a local landmark and it has a positive and important impact on the streetscape. The original entrances to the school were on the side elevations: there would have been separate entrances for Boys and Girls. John R Hill was the County Architect for Dumfriesshire in the 1930s. He also built the rather more distinguished 1936 Art Deco addition to Dumfries Academy. The present building stands on the site of an earlier single storey school, of which the boundary wall and gatepiers are the last surviving remnant.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77781677

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

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair