Education Buildings

Listing Selection Guide

Summary
Historic England’s twenty listing selection guides help to define which historic
buildings are likely to meet the relevant tests for national designation and be
included on the National Heritage List for England. Listing has been in place since
1947 and operates under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas)
Act 1990. If a building is felt to meet the necessary standards, it is added to the List.
This decision is taken by the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport (DCMS). These selection guides were originally produced by English
Heritage in 2011: slightly revised versions are now being published by its successor
body, Historic England.

Each guide falls into two halves. The first defines the types of structures included
in it, before going on to give a brisk overview of their characteristics and how these
developed through time, with notice of the main architects and representative
examples of buildings. The second half of the guide sets out the particular tests in
terms of its architectural or historic interest a building has to meet if it is to be listed. A
select bibliography gives suggestions for further reading.

This guide looks at buildings of all types provided to facilitate education, from the
Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Education stimulated some of the country’s
finest architecture, ranging from the medieval universities to post-war primary schools.
Many schools were built in response to the successive Education Acts of 1870 and
later, and embody in physical form developing ideas on education, and child welfare
more generally. At times, such as in the years after the Second World War, it was school
building which earned Britain greatest international acclaim, and its universities
contain some of the best works of the leading architects of the day.

First published by English Heritage April 2011.

This edition published by Historic England December 2017.

All images © Historic England unless otherwise stated.

HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/

Front cover
‘The Beehives’, North Quad, St John’s College, the modern style. It was built in 1958-9 to the designs
first significant building at Oxford in a thoroughly of the Architects’ Co-Partnership. Listed Grade II.
Contents
Introduction..........................................1

1 Historical Summary......................2

1.1 Schools..........................................................2
Before 1800.. ..................................................2
Public education 1800-1870........................2
State education 1870-1914.. .........................3
State secondary schools..............................5
State education 1914-45.. .............................6
Post-war schools. . .........................................6
The private sector: public and
preparatory schools.. ....................................8
1.2 Universities and other higher
education establishments. . ........................10
Before 1800.. ................................................10
University buildings 1800-1945.. ................10
Other higher education institutions. . ........12
Post-war universities..................................13

2 Specific Considerations..............16

2.1 Schools........................................................16
Schools before 1870...................................16
1870-1914....................................................17
1914-45........................................................17
Post-war. . .....................................................17
2.2 Universities.. ................................................18
2.3 Extent of listing...........................................18

3 Select Bibliography....................19

3.1 Schools........................................................19
3.2 Universities.. ................................................19

Acknowledgements.............................20
Introduction
Education stimulated some of the country’s finest architecture, ranging from the
medieval universities to post-war primary schools. Although some schools are so
modest that they are easily overlooked, many more are striking local landmarks
designed to inculcate pride in learning. At times, such as in the years after the Second
World War, it was school building which earned Britain greatest international acclaim,
and its universities contain some of the best works of the leading architects of the
day. Schools are especially vulnerable to conversion and demolition, and there is
widespread public interest in the future of these distinctive historic buildings. For
many, schools are formative buildings and much valued elements of the public realm.
They are an emotive category, which makes proper assessment all the more important.

In 2010 English Heritage published an That provides a fuller and more extensively
authoritative overview in its Informed illustrated treatment of the topic than is
Conservation series of the history of school possible here. What follows below is a brief
buildings in the context of evolving educational historical overview of some of the principal
provision: Elain Harwood, England’s Schools: developments in the history of education
History, Architecture and Adaptation (2010). buildings, and an explanation of our approach
in assessing such buildings for designation.

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1 Historical Summary
1.1 Schools Public education 1800-1870
The rate of school building increased dramatically
Before 1800 during this period, fuelled by competition
The earliest schools were monastic but some between the dissenting and Anglican churches.
parish clergy taught younger boys, usually in the Two school-building bodies were particularly
parish church. By the later Middle Ages, wealthy prominent: the nonconformist Society for
patrons endowed schools: there were more than Promoting the Lancastrian System for the
80 in England on the eve of the Reformation. Education of the Poor (set up in 1808, and
Survivals are fragmentary in the main but include in 1814 renamed as the British and Foreign
(in each case the original buildings being listed School Society), followed swiftly by the Church
Grade I) Bishop Wykeham’s impressive Winchester of England’s National Society for Promoting
College (Hampshire, 1382) and the Countess of Religious Education, set up in 1811. They gave
Suffolk’s school at Ewelme (Oxfordshire, 1437); their name to the two most common late
royal foundations include Eton (Berkshire, 1440).
Each continues to flourish. The larger schools
were modelled on Oxford and Cambridge colleges;
smaller schools might be one- or two-storey
buildings with the schoolmaster’s house attached.
Post-Reformation schools continued to depend
on private philanthropy and ranged widely in
style, from the late Gothic of Shrewsbury School
(Shropshire, 1595-1607, enlarged 1627-30; listed
Grade I) to the simple classicism of Sir John
Moore’s School, Appleby (Leicestershire,1693-7;
listed Grade I, Fig 1): school endowment was an
important aspect of Protestant philanthropy. The
early eighteenth century saw the building of the
first Blue Coat charitable schools in urban areas,
and a few village schools on the estates of wealthy
landowners, often associated with almshouses.
Later that century, dissenting schools appear: Figure 1
these were usually small halls of little architectural Shrewsbury School, now the public library. Founded
by leading townsmen in 1552. New Grinshill stone
pretension, placed close to, abutting or even
ranges either side of a stair tower were built in two
underneath a chapel, but also included large and campaigns between 1595 and 1630. Shrewsbury,
impressive buildings such as the Society of Friends according to William Camden, was ‘the largest school
Boarding School at Ackworth, near Wakefield in all England’; only Winchester and Eton had such
extensive and lavish premises. Listed Grade I.
(West Yorkshire, 1776; listed Grade I, Fig 2).

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 Schools Act, larger workhouse unions were
empowered to build special boarding schools,
sometimes known as industrial schools or ‘barrack
homes’, to prepare the most impoverished
children for domestic service or a useful trade.
Such fragments of these buildings as survive are
also rare but can be impressive, for instance the
administrative centrepiece of the former Central
London District School in Hanwell (London
Borough of Ealing, 1856-7; listed Grade II).

State education 1870-1914

Politicians first tackled public school reform to
improve the quality of public administration
(see below) and then turned their attention to
Figure 2 elementary education to create a more numerate
Society of Friends Boarding School, Ackworth, West and literate workforce. The passing of the 1867
Yorkshire. Built in 1758 as a provincial branch of
Reform Bill and its extension of universal male
London’s Foundling Hospital, this impressive building
was taken over in 1778 by the Society of Friends as a suffrage made it a priority ‘to educate our
boarding school, demonstrating the determination of masters’, referring to the newly-enfranchised
the new dissenting communities to advance education. male population at large. The 1870 Education
Listed Grade I.
Act, steered by the Liberal MP William Forster
(and hence known as the Forster Education Act)
permitted school boards within local authorities
to finance school building from a local rate and
Georgian kinds of schools: the British schools and elementary schooling became compulsory in
the National schools. Joseph Lancaster (1778- 1880. The voluntary societies redoubled their
1838) was an influential Quaker educationalist efforts to provide schools to thwart the need
who was the greatest developer of the ‘monitor’ for a board. There was a massive expansion in
system, whereby one teacher would supervise denominational school building, board schools
young assistants who each taught a small group; being concentrated in the larger cities where
this prevailed until about 1880. Limited budgets provision was worst. Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1894
kept schools modest and they rarely comprised story The Naval Treaty included the celebrated
more than a single classroom, or at the most two summary of their aspirations: ‘Lighthouses
or three schoolrooms where numbers warranted my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules, with
segregation between boys, girls and infants. hundreds of bright little seeds in each, out of
Schools with individual classrooms and a central which will spring the wiser, better England of
assembly hall are rare; the British School at the future.’ Survival of early board schools is
Hitchin, Hertfordshire (listed Grade II*; now a uneven, being poor in Manchester, but very good
museum), Fig 3, is a special survival. in Bradford, Sheffield, Birmingham and parts of
London. Collectively they amount to one of the
Educational provision was patchy. A few most important campaigns of public building ever
benevolent industrialists set up schools for the undertaken in this country.
children they employed. These buildings are
rare, and so utilitarian in form that they are While funding was always an issue, the best
hard to identify. The first purpose-built Sunday board schools display architectural ambition,
school was erected in Hoxton, London Borough and made their mark on the street scene through
of Hackney, by the Methodist church in 1802 to picturesque compositions, careful detailing and
teach children to read. Under the 1857 Industrial the sparing deployment of decoration. Design

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Figure 3
British School, Queen Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire. The larger of the two buildings incorporated steps into
An early British School (1837 and 1857) founded by the classroom to create a small theatre-like space for
Nonconformists (so-called National Schools of the teaching large classes together. Listed Grade II*.
same period being founded by the Church of England).

practice varied. Some boards did not employ an denominational board schools with echoes of
architect; others made permanent appointments the fashionable Queen Anne style. His 1874 book
or held competitions. The resulting designs show School Architecture was highly influential. From
a striking variety of styles and quality. Some Robson’s office emerged the standard board
architects produced exceptional buildings, for school plan, with a central assembly hall and
instance, the fifteen by Innocent and Brown in classrooms to three sides; in the Birmingham
Sheffield with their distinctive arched ‘play-sheds’ schools the clustered classrooms were deployed
where children could exercise in bad weather, to create asymmetrical Gothic exteriors. Where
or the 50 or so by Martin and Chamberlain in space was limited, infants, girls and boys
Birmingham with their patent ‘plenum’ or forced (carefully separated) were each accommodated
air heating systems and impressive ventilation in a hall and classrooms on three successive
towers. This gradual specialisation by particular floors. Rooftop playgrounds were provided on
firms together with the publication of designs particularly cramped sites. This type dominated
led to some standardisation, but it was the London from 1880 under Robinson’s successor
School Board for London, the first to be founded T J Bailey, and was widely adopted on urban sites
under the 1870 Act, that proved to be the most elsewhere. Some 3,400 pre-1919 primary schools
influential. Its architect, E R Robson, built in were estimated to survive in 2006 of a total of
Gothic but also promoted a cheap, secular, around 17,000 primary schools currently in use.
alternative considered appropriate for the non-

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State secondary schools 1912, a process aided by the fall in birth rate that
From their beginnings in the late nineteenth stemmed demand for elementary schools.
century, state secondary schools were sited
close to the centres of cities and towns so that The simple classical style used for schools until
they could serve a wide area. They were built the 1820s was replaced first by neo-Tudor, and
on a larger scale, with smaller classrooms and then by more elaborate Gothic Revival designs,
specialist facilities such as a gymnasium, machine reflecting the religious drivers behind much
room or chemical and physical laboratories. early nineteenth-century education. E R Robson
County councils, created in 1889, provided the favoured a light and airy Queen Anne revival
impetus towards further specialist training for for London board schools, which was widely
industry and they established higher education imitated. By the Edwardian period the neo-
colleges, polytechnics, and ‘monotechnics’ Georgian style was seen by some authorities to
(relating to a single specific trade). The 1902 possess the dignity and timelessness appropriate
Education Act transferred responsibility for former to a secondary school, and it was also the style
board schools and the voluntary denominational being adopted by the older foundations, which
schools to county and borough councils. The the local authorities sought to emulate. By the
new authorities rapidly expanded secondary turn of the century too, limitations in funding
education from 272 schools in 1902 to 1000 by meant that school design had often become more

Figure 4
Summerfield School, Dudley Road, Birmingham. brought about by the 1870 Education Act. The resulting
Commissioned by a local School Board and designed national building programme created some of our
by Martin and Chamberlain, one of Birmingham’s finest Victorian schools in a variety of Gothic Revival (as
most innovative architectural firms, Summerfield here) and Queen Anne styles. Listed Grade II.
School of 1885 reflects the sea-change in education

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austere and formulaic. Some, exceptionally,
experimented with Art Nouveau motifs. Neo-
Georgian became the common model for
secondary schools after 1902, in imitation of
older public schools. As education moved away
from instruction by rote, so the more ambitious
authorities began to consider school buildings
from the point of view of the child, with issues of
health and mental stimulation to the fore.

The opening of schools to regular medical

inspections in 1907 prompted a dramatic change
in school planning, pioneered by George Reid,
medical officer to Staffordshire County Council,
working with the county architect John Hutchings.
A pioneer in the building of well-ventilated and
Figure 5
less utilitarian schools was George Widdows, Derbyshire County Council built some of England’s
architect to Derbyshire Education Committee from most advanced schools. The former Ilkeston Grammar
1904. His innovative designs, in a neo-vernacular School of 1911-14, by George Widdows, architect to the
Education Department and later the county architect,
style, with cross ventilation and a ‘marching
had a large central hall and well-lit classrooms entered
corridor’ for exercise, proved lastingly influential. from open-air verandahs that (unusually) survive.
Surviving experimental institutions are rare, for Thoughtful planning improved both children’s
instance, open air schools for delicate children education and their health. Listed Grade II*.
following a strict regime of lessons, exercise,
healthy meals and afternoon rest spent largely out
of doors: these featured unglazed huts resembling
band stands, with a larger unit serving as a dining
and afternoon rest hall. informal, lightweight, highly-glazed buildings
intended to stimulate young minds. Architectural
State education 1914-45 competitions encouraged innovation in the use
The 1918 Education Act raised the school leaving of materials (especially prefabricated systems
age to fourteen but failed to provide sufficient of construction, used for the first time in 1936),
funding for an adequate programme of secondary lighting and ventilation. These, together with
schools. Nevertheless, the period was dominated the concept of village colleges that served also
by the building of grammar and secondary as community centres (for instance, those in
schools often modelled, if space and funds Cambridgeshire including Impington – listed
permitted, on public schools with quadrangles Grade I – 1939 from a design by Walter Gropius,
and playing fields. Economies were sought and Fig 6), paved the way for major advances after the
some authorities turned in the 1930s to steel 1939-45 war.
framing, which also provided greater flexibility.
Here, neo-Georgian was jettisoned in favour of Post-war schools
more modernist designs, often inspired by the Twenty per cent of schools in England and
much-emulated work of the Dutch architect, Wales were destroyed or badly damaged in
Willem Dudok. Long horizontal glazing for the war, and were high priorities for post-war
classrooms was countered by cubic massing and reconstruction. Britain’s birth rate, which had
offset by the vertical accent of glazed stair towers. fallen since 1901, rose sharply between 1943 and
A simpler architecture and a freeing of lessons 1948, and again from the early 1950s. The new
towards more imaginative teaching programmes towns created a particular demand for primary
came together in the nursery movement with schools and Hertfordshire alone needed ten

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Figure 6
Impington College, Cambridgeshire (1938-39), designed centres with four new schools in rural locations that
for Cambridgeshire County Council by Walter Gropius included facilities for adult education and leisure
– the founder of the Dessau Bauhaus, who had fled activities, intended to bolster rural communities
Hitler’s Germany – and E Maxwell Fry. Cambridgeshire against emigration to towns. Listed Grade I.
pioneered the idea of community colleges as social

new schools every year. Following on from pre- usually in steel but sometimes in concrete.
war experiments, systems of school-building Local authorities now banded together to form
using standardised prefabricated elements were joint ‘consortia’ using common techniques of
commonly used to meet the pace of demand. construction across hundreds of schools. The
Some were sponsored by public authorities, first and most famous was CLASP (the Consortium
notably Hertfordshire County Council, while of Local Authorities Special Programme,) which
others were privately owned. Schools using was specially designed for areas prone to mining
traditional modes of construction continued to be subsidence.
built, but increasingly reflected the rationalization
associated with the prefabricated systems and R A Butler’s Education Act of 1944 organised
with stringent cost limits.  In the best schools, secondary education into separate grammar,
educational organization and architecture were technical and modern schools. Comprehensive
closely linked. Primary school planning received schools were introduced by a few progressive
much attention. Windows were made low so that authorities from 1948, their design led by London,
the smallest child could see out; there were areas Birmingham and Coventry. A challenge for
for paints and glue; little desks, chairs, sinks, comprehensives was the size required to sustain
toilets, and coat pegs were purpose-designed; and a lively sixth form, and the Ministry of Education
bright colour schemes and murals gave stimulus required that they should be for as many as 2000
and pleasure. pupils. Problems of scale were mitigated by
creating smaller units, for instance, ‘houses’ in
The first prefabricated systems were only suited Coventry, each creating a close-knit environment
to single-storey building, and were inappropriate for a cross-section of children; and lower, middle
for large secondary schools. In the 1950s more and senior schools in Birmingham. Elsewhere,
flexible and resilient framing systems emerged, a few schools receiving dramatic architectural

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Figure 7
Smithdon School, Hunstanton, Norfolk (1950-54). more’, and makes a virtue of leaving materials and
Designed by Alison and Peter Smithson and regarded construction methods exposed to view. Listed Grade II*.
as a prototype of the New Brutalism. Its sparse design
reflects the impact of the philosophy that ‘less is

treatment, as with Alison and Peter Smithson’s The private sector: public and preparatory
Smithdon School, Hunstanton, Norfolk (1950-54; schools
listed Grade II*, Fig 7), which combined a Public schools rose from charitable foundations
modern welded steel frame and expressive use to become elite educational institutions. They
of materials with a formal, classical orthodoxy were private, in that they were fee-paying and not
found controversial by their more functionalist state-provided, but were ‘public’ in that they were
contemporaries. open to all, irrespective of religious affiliation
or location. Many have a very long history:
The first authority to challenge the established Repton, in Derbyshire, was founded in 1557; and
separation of primary and secondary schooling Blundells, at Tiverton in Devon, was opened in
was Leicestershire, which pioneered an early form 1604. The mid-Victorian state, conscious of its
of middle school in 1957. From the early 1960s imperial mission, sought to improve the calibre
plans became more flexible and centralised with of public administration and hone the country’s
open teaching areas grouped round a library or competitive edge. Haileybury in Hertfordshire
resource centre: architects worked increasingly (listed Grade II*) had been set up as early as 1806
closely with educationalists as traditional as the East India College; Wellington College
classroom-based approaches to instruction began (Grade II*) was opened in Berkshire in 1859 as
to be amended. Some schools were grouped with the national (institutional) memorial to the
sports centres and reflect a growing ambition to Duke of Wellington. The Public Schools Act of
create a more adult, college-like environment for 1868 placed certain long-established schools –
older children. Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Merchant Taylors’,
Rugby, Shrewsbury, St Paul’s, Westminster and
Winchester – on a new charitable footing. Others
were boosted by the Endowed Schools Act of 1869.

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Figure 8
Lancing College, West Sussex, was founded as a private its Gothic Revival buildings look to the example of
school by Nathaniel Woodard in 1848 and aimed at the Oxbridge colleges for their inspiration. Mostly listed
sons of ‘clergymen and other gentlemen’. One of about Grade II*, some Grade II, chapel Grade I.
twenty new schools established during the nineteenth
century to cater for the growing middle classes,

This led to considerable expansion of premises, Butterfield, who was responsible for many of
sometimes on more spacious new rural or Rugby’s buildings between the 1860s and 1880s,
suburban sites. Examples include Dulwich and Herbert Baker at Harrow (War Memorial
College (London Borough of Southwark, 1866- Building 1921; listed Grade II) to lavish attention
70; Grade II*), Charterhouse (Surrey, 1872-84; on specialist and sports buildings. The tradition
Grade II), Taunton (Somerset, 1867-70; Grade II) of large dormitories in boarding schools waned
and Shrewsbury (Shropshire, 1882; chapel Grade as the nineteenth century progressed due to
II). Many of the older establishments contain accusations of organized bullying, and was often
buildings of high architectural significance, such replaced by a pastoral house system, in which a
as the medieval ranges at Eton and Winchester, housemaster and his family would live in one part
or Lord Burlington’s work at Westminster. From of the house and a group of boys in the other, in
the High Victorian period onwards, they were small dormitories or individual study-bedrooms.
built on an increasingly monumental scale. At several schools the housemasters were directly
Chapels became particularly important elements responsible for commissioning their own houses.
to public schools: that at Lancing (West Sussex), Good examples from the mid nineteenth century
by R H Carpenter (finished in 1977 by Stephen to the early twentieth can be found at many
Dykes Bower; listed Grade I), was surpassed schools, including those by William White at
in height only by Westminster Abbey and York Shrewsbury, where three of the 1880s are listed
Minster. Well-endowed institutions could at Grade II. Broadly speaking, however, with
commission leading architects such as William the exception of dormitories, the requirements

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of state and public schools were similar; it is west of Birmingham in the West Midlands, opened
the level of investment on buildings and their in 1794, although its present buildings (designed
architectural detailing that mark the latter out. by A W N Pugin and listed Grade II*) date from the
War memorials can further enrich the ensembles, 1830s onwards.
as at Winchester or Clifton (Bristol). After about
1900 and throughout the inter-war period most University buildings 1800-1945
public schools adopted restrained and traditional Oxford and Cambridge universities expanded
styles, and these became a model for the more considerably during the nineteenth century,
ambitious local authorities. Departures, from leading to considerable rebuilding and expansion
this traditionalism, are however, to be found, like of earlier college buildings. The Greek Revival,
the science lab at Marlborough (Wiltshire; listed best seen at Downing College, Cambridge by
Grade II), and a number of additional buildings William Wilkins (Grade I, started in 1807), was
designed in the International Style (by the rivalled by the Gothic and Tudor revivals early in
American architect William Lescaze) at Dartington the nineteenth century, to be supplanted by more
(Devon; listed Grade II* and II). The immediate eclectic historical revivalist styles later on: this
post-war period, saw a continued commitment approach is particularly well represented by Alfred
to traditional architecture, such as the additions Waterhouse’s additions to Gonville and Caius
at Repton School (Derbyshire) designed by College, Cambridge of the 1860s (listed Grade II*).
Marshall Sisson in the 1950s; other schools, Colleges continued to form the basis of much of
such as Bryanston (Dorset), have consistently university life, but central university buildings
commissioned eminent architectural practices to such as libraries, lecture theatres and, rather
add to their facilities, from the Architects’ Co- later, laboratories steadily increased in number. A
Partnership 1950s (which used the same system as notable development was the foundation of the
for their state schools) in the 1950s to Campbell, first residential college for women: Girton College,
Zogolovitch, Wilkinson and Gough in the 1980s. Cambridge (listed Grade II*, by Alfred Waterhouse)
was opened in 1869. Basil Champneys’ buildings
for Newnham, Cambridge (1875 onwards; listed
1.2 Universities and other higher Grade II*) are perhaps the finest.
education establishments
Outside Oxbridge, there was gradual growth and
Before 1800 diversification. As with schools, so with colleges:
Universities in England before 1800 can be religious diversity provided a stimulus to higher
summed up in one word: ‘Oxbridge’. Colleges at education foundations. University College,
Oxford and Cambridge retain very varying levels London was opened in 1826 as a non-Anglican
of early survivals. Some, such as Corpus Christi, place of learning: the Church of England opened
Cambridge, have kept considerable amounts King’s College as a riposte in 1828. Both occupied
of medieval fabric; others, such as University fine neo-classical premises, designed by Wilkins
College, Oxford, were substantially rebuilt in and Smirke respectively. The University of London
the eighteenth century. The accretive nature of was founded in 1836 as an umbrella examining
these places is an important element of their institution bringing together these rivals, along
special interest. Buildings centrally owned by the with the capital’s many autonomous colleges and
universities, such as Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre its medical schools (mostly subsumed in teaching
or Cambridge’s Senate House, were few but highly hospitals, for which see the Health and Welfare
distinguished. A few non-Anglican institutions selection guide). Other colleges such as the Royal
deserve mention too: these include the notable Naval School (1843-45, later Goldsmiths’ College)
mid eighteenth-century Nonconformist academy were later incorporated into the university.
at Warrington, ‘the cradle of Unitarianism’ (listed Outside London, ‘university colleges’ were
Grade II, having been physically re-located), and established which later formed the basis of the so-
the notable Catholic seminary at Oscott, north- called ‘red brick’ universities: Manchester (1851),

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Figure 9
Birmingham University is one of the quintessential Ingress Bell (1900-9) in a rich Byzantine Revival style,
civic universities of England that were founded in show how such institutions earned the then derisory
the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Here nickname of ‘red brick universities’. Listed Grade II*.
the main buildings, designed by Sir Aston Webb and

Leeds and Nottingham (1874), Bristol (1876), works from leading architects that underscored
Sheffield (1879), Birmingham (1880), Liverpool the growth of higher education across the country
(1881) and Reading (1892). These offered and graced many cities with some of their most
evening classes and teacher training as their important public buildings. At Birmingham, a gift
core activities but degrees were offered through of £50,000 from Andrew Carnegie, and another of
extension courses, usually granting London 25 acres from Lord Calthorpe, allowed the former
qualifications but occasionally, as at Reading Mason College to relocate in 1900 as Birmingham
and Nottingham, those of Oxford or Cambridge. University to the first campus site in England with
Full university status came only gradually. Most buildings designed by Aston Webb and Ingress
of these institutions have a grand centrepiece, Bell (listed Grade II*) Fig 9. The Royal Charter
demonstrating both architectural and historic/ or elevating Mason’s College established a form
cultural interest, but were subsequently greatly of university government which was generally
(and sometimes cheaply) extended. adopted elsewhere. At Bristol, Sir George Oatley’s
Wills Memorial Building (1915-25; Grade II*) is one
Private benefactors could make a major impact of the city’s most prominent buildings and one of
on a university or university college campus, as the last great Gothic buildings in England. Halls
did the Cadbury and Wills families at Birmingham of residence, which sometimes incorporate earlier
and Bristol respectively and Jesse Boot (Lord villas, are an important specialist building type.
Trent) at Nottingham, who commissioned notable Reading led the way, opening its first hall in 1908,

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and the practice pioneered there of single-study the curriculum and provide a gymnasium (as at
bedrooms, with a dining hall, common rooms and Woolwich Polytechnic, founded by the London
a small body of tutors offering pastoral care rather County Council in 1890, where a gymnasium
than specialist teaching, became a general model. opened the next year). The Royal College of Art (in
Most early halls of residence were for women, the City of Westminster) was founded in 1837 as
for whom lodgings or ‘digs’ were widely thought the Government School of Design, and a national
unsuitable, and for whom closer supervision was system of art schools received state aid from
believed necessary. 1841 in order to improve the quality of design in
Britain’s manufactures. They were boosted by the
University buildings from the earlier twentieth Great Exhibition of 1851 and more schools opened
century include some notable additions: Giles in the 1850s and 1860s. Later buildings were often
Gilbert Scott’s Memorial Court for Clare College, embellished with a rich decorative display, for
Cambridge (1923-34; listed Grade II*) and his towering instance, the terracotta detailing at the School of
University Library beyond it (1931-34; listed Science and Art at Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset
Grade II) demonstrate a rare monumentality in (1893; listed Grade II) Fig 10, or adopted an avant-
an area generally associated with smaller-scale garde style as at W.R. Letharby’s Central School of
interventions. This tendency reached its climax Arts and Crafts College (now the London Institute,
with Charles Holden’s University of London Senate 1905-08, in Holborn; listed Grade II*). Art colleges
House (1932-37; listed Grade II*), and Lanchester may contain interesting exhibition spaces or, as
and Lodge’s Parkinson Building (1926-51; listed at the Bury School of Arts and Crafts, Lancashire
Grade II) in Leeds. Percy Morley Horder’s buildings (1891; listed Grade II), and many others, top-lit
for University College, Nottingham, of 1922-32 studios and weaving sheds.
(listed Grade II) range from a monumental
teaching building to a gentle Arts and Crafts
for its female hall of residence. Expanding
curricula required better facilities, especially
for the sciences.

Other higher education institutions

There was a range of other colleges. A number of
diocesan training colleges for schoolmasters – two
early examples are Culham (Oxfordshire, 1852)
and St Luke’s Exeter (1852-54) – are collegiate in
layout but adorned appropriately with cloisters.
Medical schools developed separately but were
slowly absorbed into the university colleges.
Mechanics’ Institutes, originating in Scotland in
the 1820s, led the way for colleges of technology,
polytechnics and other local-authority institutions
that gained autonomous university status in
1992. Technical subjects were taught in the
mechanics’ halls and technical colleges, and in
Figure 10
London Quintin Hogg founded The Polytechnic in The former School of Science and Art, Weston-super-
1882 and the London County Council supported Mare, Somerset. Established following the mid-
a series of monotechnics devoted to specific century reforms of Sir Henry Cole and others, schools
trades, such as Bolt Court School of Photo- such as this were created to train the pool of skilled
technicians and designers necessary to maintain the
Engraving and Lithography, founded in 1894. country’s industrial dominance. This spirited and
Concern at the poor state of young men’s physical architecturally eclectic example was designed by local
fitness led some institutions to build sport into architect Hans Price in 1893. Listed Grade II.

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Figure 11
Churchill College, Cambridge. One of the first boiler house. The 1958 design by William Mullins of
Cambridge colleges to do away with the centuries- Richard Sheppard, Robson and Partners sought to
old tradition of enclosing the buildings within a solid maintain the traditions of a Cambridge college in
perimeter wall. Nevertheless, Churchill still has a modern dress. Listed Grade II.
formal entrance, albeit flanked by squash courts and

Post-war universities The first buildings of the 1950s, generally for

Regular government spending on university science and engineering or halls of residence,
building projects via the University Grants mostly adopted a restrained neo-Georgian
Committee began in the 1940s and the introduction style, but there were distinguished exceptions
of maintenance grants led to a huge increase in found, for instance, in the seventeenth-century
student numbers, which more than doubled between revival and gentle modernism of Durham or the
1961 and 1977. The first wholly new university of traditional styles used for the halls of residence
the post-war period was Keele, in Staffordshire at Nottingham. From the late 1950s a stronger
(1950); although unpretentious architecturally, modernism appeared. Oxford and Cambridge vied
the choice of a country house campus and an with each other in the building of new colleges, or
emphasis on joint courses was influential. Later the extension of old ones, and had the money to
university buildings experimented with teaching give the best post-war architects the opportunity
spines where different disciplines could be taught to build some of their finest work. Cambridge
in adjacent accommodation, and lecture theatres had its own School of Architecture, and therefore
could be shared. Seven new universities followed: in-house designers (notably David Roberts, Leslie
Sussex, York, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Warwick Martin and Colin St John Wilson) but it also held
and Lancaster, and there was expansion both competitions, for instance, for the new arts faculty
in ‘Oxbridge’ and in ‘red brick’ universities. The buildings (won in 1952 by Casson and Conder)
result was a major programme of public building and the prestigious Churchill College won in 1959
which included some of the finest post-war by Richard Sheppard, Robson and Partners; listed
buildings of all. Grade II, Fig 11). Oxford, with no architecture

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school to advise it, followed the enthusiasm of its vision that characterises the best university
surveyor Jack Lankester for Danish architecture buildings of the period. Many institutions turned
and selected Arne Jacobsen for the new St for master-planning advice to such architects as
Catherine’s College (1961-6, Grade I). Young Leslie Martin or Hugh Casson, leading to a greater
British talent was also encouraged. For instance, uniformity in post-war university building than
the Architects’ Co-Partnership at St John’s (Grade was found previously, save in part at Liverpool
II); Powell and Moya at Brasenose (Grade II*); and which had its own strong architectural school.
Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis at St Anne’s
(Grade II). These practices were to dominate The new universities were, effectively, new towns.
university building in the 1960s, along with more Sussex University (from 1959 onwards, by Basil
assertive talents such as Stirling and Gowan (at Spence; listed Grade I and II*) was an integrated
Leicester and Cambridge); Chamberlin, Powell and complex on a rural site near Brighton. It set a
Bon (at Leeds and Cambridge); and Denys Lasdun pattern that was developed at the University of
(in London and East Anglia). The Stirling and East Anglia (where Lasdun was appointed in 1962),
Gowan engineering building at Leicester of 1961- containing early examples of residential blocks
63 (listed Grade II*, Fig 12) embodies the rejection designed as flats (the ‘ziggurats’; listed Grade II*,
of stylistic caution and the sheer boldness of Fig 13) and reached its ultimate development at

Figure 12
The Engineering Building (1961-3), University of architecture of Russian Constructivism the building has
Leicester. Designed by James Stirling and James laboratories, offices, and a main well-lit block for heavy
Gowan and a landmark post-war building. With its clear engineering. Listed Grade II*
references to Le Corbusier’s Maisons Jaoul and the

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Essex University, intended for 20,000 students idiosyncratic and historicist Westminster College,
and where the teaching buildings were set in in Pimlico in the City of Westminster (1952-53;
quadrangles on a raised deck and surrounded by Grade II*) to the Hollings Building at Manchester
twenty-storey student flats. Sussex’s Arts Building Metropolitan University (1957-60, Leonard Howitt;
(listed Grade II*) also pioneered the concept of Grade II) with its hyperbolic parabolic-arched
placing arts and social science subjects with frame that gives it the nickname ‘The Toast
similar teaching needs in one building with the Rack’. Another prominent example is the Newton
aim of cross-fertilising ideas. York, Kent and Building at Nottingham Trent University (1956-58,
Lancaster secured a still closer integration of Charles Hyde of T Cecil Howitt and Partners;
residential and teaching spaces. Grade II*), an imposing landmark building which
continued the monumental tradition while
As in earlier periods, higher and further education demonstrating that city’s commitment to higher
colleges have often been regarded as poor education. In recent years also, a number of
relations to the universities, yet there are some higher education projects by leading architectural
notable buildings, designed across a wide stylistic practices has continued the tradition of
spectrum, ranging from H S Goodhart-Rendel’s prestigious buildings for study.

Figure 13
The striking sculptural forms of the Norfolk and Suffolk tutor accommodation, complex intersecting levels
Terraces of the University of East Anglia, known as the disguised their bulk, and their shape hugged the
Ziggurats due to their shape, were a radical departure adjoining teaching spine so that no student need take
from the tradition of university architecture. Designed more than five minutes to get from bed to lectures.
by Denys Lasdun in 1964-68 as student and resident Listed Grade II*

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2 Specific
Considerations
Education buildings are particularly sensitive ones. It needs to be clearly stated that
designation and the positive management of these places are in no way incompatible
with aspirations for educational improvement. Historic interest and architectural
distinction often combine to create inspirational places of learning. Change and re-use
are very often appropriate too. School and higher education buildings also contribute
greatly to the richness of the local scene.

Individual buildings must be assessed on their own merits. However, it is important

to consider the wider context and where a building forms part of a functional group
with one or more listed (or listable) structures this is likely to add to its own interest.
Examples might include janitor’s houses or play-shelters, playground sculptures
or free-standing specialist blocks. Key considerations are the relative dates of the
structures, and the degree to which they were functionally inter-dependent when in
their original uses.

The major issues which will determine whether careful selection of the best or, in some cases, the
Education buildings will be designated may be most typical, local examples. Schools are often,
summarised thus: along with churches, notable landmarks and
were designed as such: their contribution to the
character of historic neighbourhoods should be
2.1 Schools taken into account as well.

In general it should be remembered that large Schools before 1870

numbers of schools survive and rigorous selection School buildings from before 1840 that survive
is required when assessing them for designation. in their original form will normally be already
Although their plans became increasingly protected, and sometimes at high grades. After
standardised across the country, some school this date schools have to be well preserved
boards and (later) local authorities provided and of good architectural quality to be listed.
signature features such as impressive massing and Some innovatory examples will be eligible for
innovative planning that raise them well above high grades, as will be the most architecturally
the average. In some exceptional cases this might sophisticated, as well as those designed by
mean listing almost all the surviving schools of leading architects. The rarest survivals can be
the most progressive bodies or councils, but more very humble, especially pauper and factory
often than not it should be possible to make a schools, and may be easily overlooked because

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they are plain and have no distinctive plan form. 1914-45
Their very humility lends them significance, Few schools were built during either world war.
and they should not be judged against grander After 1918 they tended to be on a much larger
schools. The survival of internal fittings is likely to scale than previously, with more specialist
add interest. teaching rooms. The assessment of schools of
this date must, as before, balance architectural
1870-1914 quality with degree of survival. Design standards
1870 is a seminal date for assessing schools, could sometimes be high, but could equally
with the introduction of school boards and veer towards the bland. Many schools were in
substantial state funding following in the wake of a standardised neo-Georgian idiom; many lack
the 1870 Education Act. Large numbers of board the special interest required for designation
schools still survive, which demands care in their at a national level, but there are those with
assessment. Preservation and degree of survival particularly thoughtful design (as manifested in
will be relevant, alongside architectural interest, overall composition, good quality brickwork and
planning, earliness of date, and the rarity of the stone detailing, for instance) which stand out and
type of school in question. External architectural meet the test of special interest. Internal features
quality is usually the most striking feature of schools can sometimes make all the difference. Examples
of this period, and is a fundamental criterion for of pioneering Modern Movement architecture
listing. Some school boards (especially in the are likely to be small in scale, but they are rare:
major cities) consistently produced designs of many are already listed. There were many Dudok-
great interest, but a school does not necessarily inspired modernist schools built on the cheap in
have to attain these high standards for designation the later 1930s, but only the most boldly massed
to be warranted: regard should be given to the and complete will be eligible for designation.
local context, and the sort of school that is being Detailed internal inspections will reveal the extent
considered. Interiors matter too: fixtures were of special features (such as panelling in the principal
generally plain and most plans were formulaic spaces and head teacher’s room, of fitted furnishings
and increasingly standardised: exceptions are thus and the survival of libraries, science laboratories
of interest. Completeness can be most important, and specialised facilities). For primary schools in
and the extent of alteration needs to be particular, an eye should be kept open for features
determined: losses and ill-proportioned additions of functional interest, such as evidence of cross-
can reduce designation-worthiness. Many schools ventilation or some form of open-air planning like
were built piecemeal, and initial compositions fully opening walls, as well as plans that reflect
were often not completed as intended. Ancillary new ideas in child-centred and more creative
structures such as carefully designed walls, education. The first nursery schools date from this
railings, gates and teacher’s houses; specialist period. Careful selection is required for open-air
units such as domestic science blocks; and and other experimental schools, as their interest
unusual features such as covered or rooftop is likely to be historical rather than architectural:
playgrounds and plenum towers will enhance earliness of date, influence and intactness are
the case for designation. So too can lettering and likely to be key considerations.
sculptural embellishment. Some local authorities,
notably Derbyshire, instituted designs in the 1900s Post-war
that were concerned with good ventilation to To date, relatively few post-war schools have
promote children’s health, and where combined been listed despite it having been a most
with architectural quality and degree of survival innovative period, and strict selection will be
can be worthy of designation. necessary because so many were built. The main
questions to ask are: is it a system-built school
that compares well with examples already listed?

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Does it use traditional construction in a novel the landscape setting too. University campuses
way? Is the planning innovatory, for instance in or other areas where there is a concentration of
encouraging constructive play or group working? educational buildings of mixed quality might be
Is it centred on a library resource or sports facility amenable to other forms of designation (notably
in a notable way? Is it enriched with significant as conservation areas), or a combination of area
art? For secondary schools, are distinctions designation with specific listings.
such as grammar, technical, secondary modern
or comprehensive expressed imaginatively in
their plans and provision? Is it a major work by 2.3 Extent of listing
a significant architect, or a good example of a
work by a progressive authority? A secondary Amendment to the Planning (Listed Buildings and
school will generally have an overall architectural Conservation Areas) Act 1990 provides two potential
stylishness as well as being innovative in its ways to be more precise about what is listed.
construction or plan for listing to be warranted.
The empowerments, found in section 1 (5A) (a)
and (b) of the 1990 Act, allow the List entry to
2.2 Universities say definitively whether attached or curtilage
structures are protected; and/or to exclude from
Most of the older university buildings will already the listing specified objects fixed to the building,
be listed, although grading might sometimes features or parts of the structure. These changes
warrant revision. Early twentieth-century university do not apply retrospectively, but New listings and
buildings will be judged largely on their architectural substantial amendments from 2013 will provide
quality, and degree of survival may be a factor. this clarification when appropriate.
Historic interest can also be an issue, as early
examples of certain sorts of buildings will have Clarification on the extent of listing for older
an extra claim to recognition. Degree of survival, lists may be obtained through the Local
group value and internal factors will be key Planning Authority or through the Historic
determinants too. England’s Enhanced Advisory Service, see www.
HistoricEngland.org.uk/EAS.
Higher education buildings of the post-1945
period include some of the most exciting
buildings of their day, and can be of international
importance. Architectural interest will be
determined sometimes by questions of successful
functionality, as well as by consideration of
design quality. Until the 1960s, campuses
developed piecemeal but certain groups of
buildings, such as those disposed around the
central university administrative and governance
block, often including the library, emerge as
coherent ensembles of overall listable quality.
Many universities deliberately sought work
by a range of leading architects, following the
examples of Yale and MIT at this time. Post-war
integrated campuses may justify (if practicable)
a holistic approach to designation that takes in
the entire site, perhaps including registration of

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3 Select Bibliography
Elain Harwood’s England’s Schools: History, Architecture and Adaptation (English
Heritage, 2010) includes a chapter on the designation of schools and is a useful starting
point for understanding both the history and significance of school buildings.

3.1 Schools 3.2 Universities

Dent, H C, 1870-1970: A Century of Growth in English Argles, M, South Kensington to Robbins (1964)
Education (1970)
Birks, T, Building the New Universities (1972)
Markus, T A, Buildings & Power: Freedom and Control in
the Origin of Modern Building Types (1993) Muthesius, S, The Post-War University: Utopianist
Campus and College (2000)
Orme, N, Medieval Schools: From Roman Britain to
Renaissance England (2006) Perkin, H J, New Universities in the United Kingdom
(1969)
Robson, E R, School Architecture (1874; reprinted 1972)
Saint, A, ‘Technical Education and the Early LCC’
Saint, A, Towards a Social Architecture (1987) pages 71-92, in Saint, A, (ed), Politics and the People of
London (1989)
SAVE Britain’s Heritage, Beacons of Learning (1995)
Vickery, M B V, Buildings for Bluestockings: The
Seabourne, M, The English School, vol I, 1370-1870 Architecture and Social History of Women’s Colleges in Late
(1971) Victorian England (1999)

Seabourne, M, and Lowe, R, The English School, vol. II,

Many universities and colleges have published
1870-1970 (1977)
their histories, which are of great help for
Selleck, R J W, English Primary Education and the buildings dates and architects, particularly for
Progressives, 1914-39 (1972) older structures, while biographies exist on some
of the major modern firms, such as James Stirling,
Denys Lasdun, HKPA and the Smithsons. For
many post-war buildings the best sources remain
the architectural journals, indexed by architect
and building type at the Royal Institute of British
Architects and at www.riba.sirsidynix.net.uk/uhtbin/
webcat (though this is incomplete for the 1950s
and 1960s).

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Acknowledgements
Images
© Historic England
All images except those listed below

© Other
Figures 4, 5: Mike Williams

Figure 6: Elain Harwood

Figure 7: Crown copyright

Figure 9: Wikimedia Commons, Gavin Warrins

Figure 12: Flickr, Steve Cadman

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Publication date: April 2011 © English Heritage
Reissue date: December 2017 © Historic England
Design: Historic England