Education Committee Distribution Centre office (Ouseburn Schools) is a Grade II* listed building in the Newcastle upon Tyne local planning authority area, England. First listed on 17 December 1971. School, offices.

Education Committee Distribution Centre office (Ouseburn Schools)

WRENN ID
graven-portal-elm
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Newcastle upon Tyne
Constituency
Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend MP: Mary Glindon (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
17 December 1971
Type
School, offices
Address
Education Committee Distribution Centre office (Ouseburn Schools), Albion Row
OS grid reference
NZ 265 642
Coordinates
54.97216, -1.58731
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: EPC · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Education Committee Distribution Centre office, also known as the Ouseburn Schools, is a school building that has been converted into offices. It was constructed in 1893 by F.W. Rich. The building is made of four-and-one English garden wall bond brick, featuring ashlar and moulded brick dressings, and is topped with a Welsh slate roof. It consists of three ranges that almost enclose a yard and showcases an eclectic architectural style with elements from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The structure is two storeys high with attics in the three-bay north range, while the three-storey wings return inward from corner towers, enclosing two-storey sections. The four-stage towers feature keyed brick open arches, with the right arch blocked. Above, there is a long window framed in a Gibbs surround, two sashes beneath flat brick arches in the third stage, and a blank fourth stage. The building has very wide modillioned eaves and an ogee-hipped roof with hipped dormers. At the top, there are three tiers of eaves, with the lower two being octagonal and the top round, leading to a parabolic roof with low-hipped dormers and a ball-and-spike finial, reminiscent of a Burmese temple roof.

The wings of the building have arched entrance porches, with "GIRLS" inscribed on the left and "BOYS" on the right, flanked by pedimented pilasters. They also feature elliptical and flat brick arches, along with moulded sills for the sashes that have glazing bars. Keyed oculi are present on the second floor above the porches, and the wings have hipped roofs. The north range includes double-chamfered stone mullioned and transomed windows, a high shaped gable with a swan-neck pediment, and a central section flanked by six-light windows beneath lower dormers with shaped gables. The building is adorned with moulded brick floor strings, as well as brick and ashlar pilaster and quoin strips, and it has tall corniced chimneys with strings.

Local climate

Education Committee Distribution Centre office (Ouseburn Schools) receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 57% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 94% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 27 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 70% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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