Summary : Lady Manners Secondary School was built in 1936 and is one of George H Widdows' last school designs. It is a very large and spacious complex, to the rear and side of which have been developed successive additions which have more than doubled the site footprint. The Widdows school has a two-storey central block with single-storey wings extending forwards through right-angles to tall twin hall blocks. It is built of gritstone with stone slate roof coverings, and leaded light steel-framed windows in timber sub-frames. The original group of buildings is visually impressive, carefully detailed and built of local gritstone. However, it is not representative of the innovative phases of Widdows' work, and whilst it incorporates many of the signature features of his earlier designs, by this date they are becoming standardised and formulaic rather than forward looking. |
More information : Lady Manners School in Bakewell is being 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 was linear and more standardised, with a large classroom at either end or a freestanding hall to the rear. The earliest examples of this type date from around 1910-11. 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. The secondary schools were larger and had a greater variety of rooms, with large assembly halls, laboratories and art rooms as well as classrooms, and the buildings have a greater architectural presence.
Lady Manners Secondary School was built in 1936 and is one of Widdows' last school designs. It is a very large and spacious complex, to the rear and side of which have been developed successive additions which have more than doubled the site footprint. The Widdows school has a two-storey central block with single-storey wings extending forwards through right-angles to tall twin hall blocks. It is built of gritstone with stone slate roof coverings, and leaded light steel-framed windows in timber sub-frames. The original group of buildings is visually impressive, carefully detailed and built of local gritstone. However, it is not representative of the innovative phases of Widdows' work, and whilst it incorporates many of the signature features of his earlier designs, by this date they are becoming standardised and formulaic rather than forward looking. Whilst this is a balanced and attractive composition, when it is placed in the context of the thematic survey of Widdows' schools, it lacks the degree of special interest necessary to justify a listing recommendation. (1)
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