Summary : North Wingfield Infants School was completed in 1914. It is constructed of red brick with a clay tile roof,. The school was designed by George H Widdows and is a varient of his 'linear' form with two pairs of classrooms in the front range, connected by a rear verandah corridor, with the end classrooms being larger than usual. The entrance block, normally found in the centre of the range, has been pushed back into a rear block with two further classrooms which have north rooflights. Atlerations and extensions have been made since 1938, the verandah corridors have been filled in and the window joinery has been replaced with UPVC. |
More information : This school is being assessed for listing as part of an English Heritage thematic survey of the surviving schools designed by George Widdows in Derbyshire in 1906-1936. George H. Widdows (1871-1946) is nationally acknowledged as a leading and influential designer of schools in the early 20th century. He was appointed as architect to Derbyshire County Council's Education Committee in 1904, and in 1910 became Chief Architect to the Council. By the time he retired in 1936, he had designed some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools. Nine of these have already been listed.
Widdows responded to concerns about health and hygiene in schools by developing a series of revolutionary plan forms which introduced cross ventilation and natural daylight. His schools are characterised by open verandah corridors and large expanses of glazing, including hopper and pivot windows. There are four characteristic plans for the elementary schools built to his designs before 1914. The earliest was the 'marching corridor' type; only five schools were built to this experimental and rather expensive plan. The second type was linear in form, with a larger classroom at each end and often a freestanding hall with linking corridor to the rear. 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. His secondary schools were larger ensembles and tend to have a greater architectural presence. Assessment of these schools takes into account architectural quality and the extent to which the surviving fabric represents Widdows' design innovation in a national context.
North Wingfield Infants School was completed in 1914 and first appears on the OS map of 1917. It is built of red brick, with a clay tile roof. The plan form is a variant of Widdows' linear second type. It has two pairs of classrooms in the front range, connected by a rear verandah corridor, with the end classrooms being larger as usual; but the entrance block (comprising a cloakroom with teachers' room over) normally found in the centre of the range has been pushed back into a rear block with two further classrooms which have north rooflights. At some stage after 1938, the gap left between the two front classroom blocks was infilled, and modern extensions have been added on the north side. The verandah corridors have been filled in, and the window joinery has been comprehensively replaced with UPVC.
This school is an unusual variant of Widdows' second plan type, and as such has some interest. However, the plan form is no longer clearly legible due to considerable infilling and extensions. The exterior is not of distinctive architectural quality. The later enclosure of the verandah corridors has entailed the loss of original fabric. The loss of all the window joinery is also significant. This school does not have special architectural or historic interest on a national level and does not fulfil the criteria for listing. (1)
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