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.
Middlecroft School in Staveley was designed by George Widdows and built in 1927. It appears on the 1938 OS map, immediately to the south of the present Staveley Junior School. From the map it is evident that it had a large double-quadrangle plan, with verandahs all round and classroom or hall blocks at the ends. However, the current OS maps make it clear that the Widdows school was demolished at some point in the later 20th century and a newer school (known as Staveley Junior School) was built immediately to the north. Staveley Junior School dates from the second half of the 20th century and is not by George Widdows, therefore it is not encompassed within the scope of the this project. Middlecroft School designed by Widdows has been demolished and it is understood that no historic fabric survives. (1)
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