| Summary : IIkeston School was designed as a seondary school by George H. Widdows and was completed between 1910 and 1914. It was one of a large number of new schools built to Widdows' designs by Derbyshire County Council in the early 20th century. Widdows' designs for elementary schools in the inter-war period were often based on a collegiate system of quadrangles, with open verandah corridors. His secondary schools were larger and had a greater variety rooms, with assembly halls, laboratories and art rooms as well as classrooms. The school is built of red brick, left exposed within the quadrangle, but outside mostly cement rendered. The roofs are of reinforced concrete and felt. The quadrangular plan encloses a detached octagonal hall, with four covered walkways linking the hall to the verandahs which front the classrooms facing onto the quadrangle. The exterior consists of four, long, sigle-storey elevations with square corner towers, or pavillions. Each elevation is of thirteen bays altogether, with large wondows to each bay. All windows are original, except for some replacements to lead paned windows in the corner towers. The internal quadrangle reamins intact, including the surface of walkways and paths. The hall retains all its original features, including tripartite hopper windows and stained glass by Andrew Stoddart. The entrance hall, classroom and headteacher's office also retain their windows and panelling. Some parquet floors are also visible, and one complete classroom fireplace survives. Listed Grade II*. (Listed Building Number 352245). |
More information : Ilkeston School was designed as a secondary school by the architect George H. Widdows (1871-1946) and was completed between 1910 and 1914. It was one of a large number of new schools built to Widdows' designs by Derbyshire County Council in the early 20th century. Derbyshire had the greatest percentage increase in population in the country in the 1890s, particularly due to the growth of the coal mining and textile manufacturing communities in the east of the county. Widdows had come to Derbyshire in 1897 as Chief Architectural Assistant to the Derby Corporation. Following the 1902 Education Act, responsibility for schools in the county passed to Derbyshire County Council. In 1904 Widdows was appointed architect to the Council's Education Committee. In 1910 he was appointed Chief Architect to the Council, although schools remained his predominant concern. By the time he retired in 1936, he had designed some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools.
Widdows was at the forefront of the movement to build schools in which high standards of hygiene were as important as educational provision following 1907, when the Board of Health brought in legislation which required schools to become subject to regular medical inspections. Widdows worked with his Medical Officer, Sidney Barwise, and two deputy architects, C. A. Edeson and T. Walker, to develop a series of innovative designs introducing high levels of natural daylight and effective cross ventilation in schools. His designs, in a neo-vernacular style, were characterised by open verandah-style corridors linking classrooms with generous full-height windows. His distinctive and influential plan forms were based on a linear module which could be arranged in different configurations to suit the size of school required and the shape of the available site. This was a significant move away from the standard Board School plan introduced by E. R. Robson, with its central assembly hall and classrooms to three sides.
Widdows' pre-1914 elementary schools can be broadly divided into four plan types. The earliest was the 'marching corridor' type, with corridors wide enough for boys to perform drill. The concern over the physical fitness of schoolchildren emanated from the Boer War of 1899-1902, when over a third of the men called up to fight were found to be physically unfit. Only five schools were built to this experimental and rather expensive plan. The second type was more standardised. It was linear in form, with a larger classroom at each end, and often a freestanding hall with linking corridor to the rear. The earliest examples of this type date from around 1910-11. The third type was the most dramatic, a butterfly-shaped plan with pairs of classrooms leading from the corners of a central hall. The fourth type was designed for irregularly-shaped sites and had a corner hall, octagonal in plan.
Widdows' designs for elementary schools in the inter-war period were often based on a collegiate system of quadrangle plans, with open verandah corridors, north lights and south dormer windows. His secondary schools were larger and had a greater variety of rooms, with sizeable assembly halls, laboratories and art rooms as well as classrooms. These larger ensembles tend to have a greater architectural presence resulting from their size and the complexity of their plan forms.
At Ilkeston, there are two modern wooden structures for storage in the north-east and north-west corners of the quadrangle, and one of the walkways connecting the hall and classrooms has been extended slightly; these are the only additions or alterations. Other buildings have been added to the school site in the later 20th century, none of which encroach onto Widdows' original school.
Andrew Stoddart, b.1876, who produced the stained glass windows to the hall, was a reputable designer who lived and worked in Nottingham. He was influenced by the work of Burne Jones, and exhibited at the Royal Academy seven times between 1906 and 1927.
The school is built of red brick, left exposed within the quadrangle, but outside mostly cement rendered: the only brickwork to be seen here is under the windows. The roofs are of reinforced concrete and felt. The unusual quadrangular plan encloses a detached octagonal hall, with four covered ways linking the hall to the verandahs which front the classrooms facing onto the quadrangle.
The exterior consists of four, long single-storey elevations with square corner towers, or pavilions, rising slightly above the flat roofline, with the ribbed dome of the school hall also visible. The whole is carefully designed and proportioned with attention to detail. The south and north elevations have similar towers to the centre. The central bay to the south elevation forms the main entrance, and is the most imposing feature of the design of the exterior. It is ashlar faced, in banded rustication, with an imaginative concave centre and a five-light square section mullion window to the first floor. The double doors themselves are well designed and proportioned. The entrance is flanked by low curved walls at the end of which are piers surmounted by tapering wrought iron lamp standards. Each elevation is of thirteen bays altogether, with large windows to each bay, and although the overall appearance is austere, the attention to detail and decoration seen in the front elevation continues on all sides. All windows are original, except for some replacements to lead paned windows in the corner towers.
The striking internal quadrangle remains intact, including the surface of walkways and paths, with the only additions being the small wooden storage structures to two corners, easily removable, and a new end to one of the walkways. Widdows unusually interprets the verandah in a classical form here, with columns supported on brick plinths, giving a cloister-like feel and adding to the lively special effect the angles create.
The hall retains all its original features, including tripartite hopper opening windows, but its most significant feature is the stained glass in the Diocletian windows, by the reputable designer Andrew Stoddart of Nottingham. It is a dramatic space, reminiscent of Islamic building forms, remarkable for a school building. The entrance hall, classrooms and headteacher's office also retain their windows and panelling. Some parquet floors are also visible, and one unusually complete classroom fireplace survives.
SOURCES
G. H. Widdows, 'Derbyshire Elementary Schools: Principles of Planning', paper presented to Royal Sanitary Institute on 25 February 1910, in Royal Sanitary Institute Journal (1910), 92-116.
'The Derbyshire Schools', The Builder, Vol. 105 (31 October 1913), 460-461.
The Builder, Vol. 107 (10 July 1914), 44-45; (17 July 1914), 74-75.
G. H. Widdows, 'School Design', RIBA Journal, Vol. 29, No. 2 (26 November 1921), 33-45. (1)
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