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.
New Whittington Community Primary School was thought to be a school designed by Widdows and completed in 1910. Examination of the historic OS maps shows that this is not the case, and it is doubtful whether Widdows had any involvement with this school. A large school for boys and girls appears on the site in 1877. By 1898 it had been extended to the front and to the rear. It appears in the same form on the 1916 map, but by 1938 it had been extended further on all sides. The school is built of red brick, with a slate roof. The style is late Victorian, with terracotta ridge cresting and bargeboarding, and there is no sign of Widdows features such as verandahs. The window joinery has been comprehensively replaced with UPVC.
This is a much-altered and extended example of a Victorian board school, with no visible or proven connection to George Widdows. The exterior lacks distinctive architectural quality and the alterations have been detrimental. This school does not have special architectural or historic interest on a national level either in the context of 19th century school building or within the scope of George Widdows' school design, and therefore does not fulfil the criteria for listing. (1)
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