| Summary : Buxton Community College, originally Buxton College, is comprised of four linked but architecturally distinct elements. The earliest part is the Victorian college, built between 1879 and 1898. An assembly hall was added to the north between 1898 and 1922. After 1922 a quadrangular extension by George H. Widdows was added to the south-west. A new block was built on the south-east side in 1990 following the amalgamation of two schools. The Victorian building is at the centre of the school site and is constructed of coursed Derbyshire gritstone, with Welsh slate roofs. It has an irregular plan and is two and three storeys high. It is architecturally plain, and has undergone a significant number of alterations. A corridor extension to the south links the Victorain building with the 1990 block. Link-attached to the north side of the Victorian building is the early 20th century assembly hall, also of coursed gritstone with a Welsh slate roof. It is one-and-a-half storeys high, in a Decorated Gothic Revival style. The Widdows building on the south-west side of the site, is constructed of uncoursed random rubble gritstone with ashlar quoins and dressings and a plain clay tile roof. It has a single-storey quadrangular plan. There are verandahs on the exterior east and west elevations and on the north, south and west sides of the interior. The building is connected to the Victorian block and the 1990s block by links. The building has been considerably altered and there are few internal features of note including some glazed partitions and hopper windows in the west range. |
More information : Buxton Community School, originally Buxton College, is comprised of four linked but architecturally distinct elements. Their history can be pieced together from Ordnance Survey map evidence. The earliest part is the Victorian college, built between 1879 and 1898. An assembly hall was added to the north between 1898 and 1922. A quadrangular extension by George Widdows was added to the south-west after 1922. In 1990 a substantial new block was built on the south-east side of the site, following the amalgamation of two schools. There are also two detached 20th century blocks on the north-east and north-west sides of the site.
George H. Widdows (1871-1946) came to Derbyshire in 1897 as Chief Architectural Assistant to 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. He also adapted and extended a number of Victorian schools.
Widdows was at the forefront of the movement to build schools in which high standards of hygiene were as important as educational provision. His designs, in a neo-vernacular style, were characterised by open verandah-style corridors linking classrooms with generous full-height windows. Widdows' designs for schools in the inter-war period were often based on a collegiate system of quadrangle plans, with open verandah corridors, north lights and south dormer windows.
The Victorian building at the centre of the school site is constructed of coursed Derbyshire gritstone, with Welsh slate roofs. It has an irregular plan, with the main range facing east and other blocks coming out at right angles. It is two and three storeys high, with a two-storey canted bay window on the east front. It is architecturally plain, and has undergone a significant number of alterations. All the windows are later replacements, openings have been altered, and ramped access has been added to the main front. Substantial single-storey extensions have been built onto the rear west side, facing the Widdows block; some of these are recent and do not appear on the current OS map. A corridor extension to the south links the Victorian building with the 1990 block. The interior of the Victorian building has no fixtures or fittings of special interest surviving. The original staircase has been removed and a modern concrete staircase inserted in a manner which is not in keeping with the original floor heights.
Link-attached to the north side of the Victorian building is the early 20th century assembly hall, also of coursed gritstone with a Welsh slate roof. It is one-and-a-half storeys high, in a Decorated Gothic Revival style which was old-fashioned by the early 20th century. The east and west ends have pairs of three-light pointed windows with transoms and plate tracery, and a round window with quatrefoil plate tracery in the gable. The north elevation has four two-light pointed windows with plate tracery. The interior is of good quality, if stylistically late for its date. It has a corbelled arch-braced timber roof; cross-braced timber doors; matchboard panelling; and coloured glass floral patterns in the upper windows.
The Widdows building, on the south-west side of the site, is constructed of uncoursed random rubble gritstone with ashlar quoins and dressings and a plain clay tile roof. It has a single-storey quadrangular plan, with flat-roofed blocks at the corners. On the exterior of the quadrangle, the north and south elevations have tall windows with catslides in between, and the east and west elevations have verandahs with dormers above. The interior of the quadrangle has verandahs on the north, south and west sides; dormer windows on the north and south sides; and rooflights on the west side. Unfortunately, the building has been comprehensively altered. The window joinery has been almost entirely replaced with UPVC, the verandahs unsympathetically enclosed, and extensions built into the quadrangle on the east side. The links connecting the Widdows building to the Victorian and 1990 blocks have broken through the fabric. Only the west elevation facing Green Lane retains its open verandah and timber glazed partitions. Internally, there are few features of note. While the original timber arcades of the verandahs survive, they have been moved back against the walls, so that their function and plan form are no longer legible. There are some glazed partitions with hopper windows in the west range.
Buxton College was a Victorian school with an Edwardian hall, to which Widdows added a substantive extension in the 1920s or, more probably, in the 1930s. Unfortunately, none of the phases of this school fulfil the criteria for designation. The Victorian building is neither innovative nor early, does not have distinctive architectural quality, and has suffered from significant alterations and extensions. The Edwardian hall has merit, particularly in the quality of the craftsmanship, but it is old-fashioned for its date. The Widdows extension is interesting as an example of his inter-war work, where he continued applying the principles of cross ventilation and natural daylight. However, its integrity has been severely compromised by the number of alterations and extensions. The loss of the window joinery and the detrimental enclosure of the verandahs are particularly significant in this context. Buxton Community School does not have special interest on a national level.
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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