More information : This school has been considered for listing as part of a thematic survey of the surviving schools designed by George Widdows in Derbyshire in 1906-1936. George Widdows (1871-46) is nationally acknowledged as a leading designer of schools and an exponent of advanced ideas on school planning. He was appointed as architect to Derbyshire County Council's Education Committee in 1904, and in 1910 was appointed its Chief Architect. He retired in 1936, by which time he had designed some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools. Nine of these have already been listed.
Widdows' revolutionary plan forms responded to concerns about health and hygiene in schools, and introduced cross ventilation and sunshine. There are four characteristic plans for the elementary schools built before 1914. The earliest was the 'marching corridor' type. Only five schools were built to this experimental and rather expensive plan. The second type, dating from around 1910-11, was linear and more standardised, with a large classroom at either end and a freestanding hall to the rear. The third type is the most dramatic, being butterfly plans with pairs of classrooms leading from the corners of a central hall. The fourth type was designed for awkward sites, and has a corner hall, octagonal in plan. As well as plan form, the significance of Widdows schools can also lie in the quality of design, fixtures and fittings.
Hollingwood Junior School (now Hollingwood Primary) was built in 1930 and belongs to the inter-war phase of Widdows' schools. It has a courtyard plan with a tall central block and two converging wings extending westwards from the main range. A now enclosed corridor links the ends of the classroom wings. The verandah corridors to each flank of the classroom wings have been enclosed and UPVC windows inserted throughout. This is a late and much-altered example of a Widdows design, and now lacks the degree of special architectural interest in a national context to merit listing. (1)
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