Summary : Howitt Primary Community School, formerly Mary Howitt Infant and William Howitt Junior School, was designed by George H. Widdows and was completed in circa 1915. It was one of a large number of new schools built to Widdows' designs by Derbyshire County Council. Widdows pre-1914 elementary schools can be divided broadly into four plan types, Howitt Community School, originally seperate buildings, is representative of his linear type, often designed with a larger classroom at each end and a freestanding hall with linking corridor to the rear. The junior school is red brick, partly pebble-dashed, with steeply pitched tiled roof, while the infants is red brick, covered in pebble-dash from cill level to eaves. Both schools followed Widdows' linear form with linking open corridors or verandahs to the rear, and with wings at either end. The infants' school was twice the length of the junior school but new extensions now link the two schools. The north-west elevation of the junior school consistes of a central entrance block flanked by two long wings, the entrance block has two wide arched openings at either end, presumably boys and girls entrances. Some original detail survives in the interior including blackboard niches and built in cupboards, boarded over fireplaces, and glazed bricks to dado height in the cloakroom in the junior school. In the infants' there are hopper windows and glazed bricks to skirting height. Between 2005 and 2007 the hall at the end of the south wing of William Howitt Junior School was demolished and at the same time an extension was built onto the infants' school which connected the schools so that they were no longer separate units. The verandahs of both schools have been enclosed to form interior corridors. |
More information : Howitt Primary Community School, formerly Mary Howitt Infant and William Howitt Junior School, was designed by the architect George H. Widdows (1871-1946) and was completed in circa 1915. It was one of a large number of new schools built to Widdows' designs by Derbyshire County Council in the early 20th century. Derbyshire had the greatest percentage increase in population in the country in the 1890s, particularly due to the growth of the coal mining and textile manufacturing communities in the east of the county. Widdows had come to Derbyshire in 1897 as Chief Architectural Assistant to the Derby Corporation. Following the 1902 Education Act, responsibility for schools in the county passed to Derbyshire County Council. In 1904 Widdows was appointed architect to the Council's Education Committee. In 1910 he was appointed Chief Architect to the Council, although schools remained his predominant concern. By the time he retired in 1936, he had designed some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools.
Widdows was at the forefront of the movement to build schools in which high standards of hygiene were as important as educational provision following 1907, when the Board of Health brought in legislation which required schools to become subject to regular medical inspections. Widdows worked with his Medical Officer, Sidney Barwise, and two deputy architects, C. A. Edeson and T. Walker, to develop a series of innovative designs introducing high levels of natural daylight and effective cross ventilation in schools. His designs, in a neo-vernacular style, were characterised by open verandah-style corridors linking classrooms with generous full-height windows. His distinctive and influential plan forms were based on a linear module which could be arranged in different configurations to suit the size of school required and the shape of the available site. This was a significant move away from the standard Board School plan introduced by E. R. Robson, with its central assembly hall and classrooms to three sides.
Widdows' pre-1914 elementary schools can be broadly divided into four plan types. Howitt Primary Community School, originally separate buildings, is representative of his linear type, often designed with a larger classroom at each end and a freestanding hall with linking corridor to the rear. The earliest examples of this type date from around 1910-11. Between 2005 and 2007 the hall at the end of the south wing of William Howitt Junior School was demolished and replaced with a new kitchen and dining room block. At the same time an extension providing office accommodation was built onto the south end of the infants' school. This is connected to the junior school's new extension, so that the schools are no longer separate units. There have also been some smaller extensions to the rear of the junior school in the course of the .
The junior school is red brick, partly pebble-dashed, with steeply pitched tiled roofs, while the infants' is red brick, covered in pebble-dash from cill level to eaves. The steeply pitched swept roofs are tiled. The plan originally consisted of two separate schools, both linear in form with linking open corridors or verandahs to the rear, and with wings at either end. The infants' school was twice the length of the junior school, but the new extensions now link the two schools at the south-east corner. The verandahs of both have been enclosed to form interior corrdors.
The long north-west elevation of the junior school consists of a central entrance block with flat roof, the brickwork of which suggests some alteration, flanked by two long wings with steeply pitched roofs and central advanced gables to each wing. The entrance block has two wide arched openings at either end, presumably boys and girls entrances respectively. The full height windows seem to be original, with the characteristic hopper openings to the lower lights. To the rear, the verandahs now form enclosed corridors lit by an almost continuous row of windows. The infants' school extension to the south is simply a continuation of the earlier building using the same materials, brick and pebble-dash, although the difference in colour is very evident, and detail is missing.
Some original detail survives, for example blackboard niches and built in cupboards in the junior school. There are also boarded over fireplaces, and glazed bricks to dado height in the cloakroom in the junior school. In the infants' there are hopper windows and glazed bricks to skirting height.
Howitt Primary Community School was originally two schools, an infant and a junior, the former a smaller version of the latter. They were built towards the end of Widdows' pre-war development of his innovative plans, and neither display significant architectural interest in their long main elevations. The junior school was slightly modified in the early 20th century, but the main impact on both their plan form and architectural integrity was made by enclosing the verandahs at some time later in the 20th century, and by the early 21st century extensions to both schools. Although some vestige of Widdows' distinctive plan form and detail survives, this is insufficient to overcome the lack of architectural interest and the later alterations to both schools. The chool is therefore not recommended for listing.
SOURCES G. H. Widdows, 'Derbyshire Elementary Schools: Principles of Planning', paper presented to Royal Sanitary Institute on 25 February 1910, in Royal Sanitary Institute Journal (1910), 92-116. The Derbyshire Schools', The Builder, Vol. 105 (31 October 1913), 460-461. The Builder, Vol. 107 (10 July 1914), 44-45; (17 July 1914), 74-75. G. H. Widdows, 'School Design', RIBA Journal, Vol. 29, No. 2 (26 November 1921), 33-45. (1)
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