Tyne Metropolitan College, Academy Campus

This secondary school was designed in 1909 by J C Maxwell for the Tynemouth Education Committee and built by J L Miller.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed of red brick laid in English Garden Wall Bond, with extensive use of yellow terracotta for dressings, cladding and ornamentation. The roofs are covered in Welsh slate, and metal rainwater heads embossed with the school shield appear throughout.

Layout

The design is symmetrical, comprising a large central rectangular block that houses the hall with classrooms leading off it, a large assembly theatre and administrative functions. Wings attached to the north and south each form three sides of an open courtyard, with a caretaker's house incorporated into the corner of the north courtyard.

Main East Elevation

The main elevation rises three storeys across five bays and features a prominent eaves cornice. The two end bays have full-height strip pilasters alternating with flat-arched window openings with raised keystones. Most windows are horned sashes with divided top-hung casements. Second-floor windows are horned sashes set in terracotta cladding with art nouveau detailing. Each pilaster continues through the eaves cornice as an art nouveau style pillar with curved capping.

The ground floor of the central entrance bay projects slightly and features an ornate segmental arched entrance with a pediment above, flanked by art nouveau style Ionic columns with curved capping. The entrance retains its original double doors. Either side, the walls display terracotta and brick banded decoration and a single sash window with divided upper pane. The first and second floors of this bay are recessed, with triple two-light replacement 20th-century windows at second-floor level and triple nine-light segmental headed windows on the first floor. These windows alternate with terracotta Ionic strip pilasters in art nouveau style. Above this sits a parapet pierced by triple occuli.

The projecting flanking bays have terracotta and brick banded decoration to the ground floors with triple sash windows with divided top-hung casements and raised keystones. Clasping art nouveau style pilasters adorn the corners of the first and second floors, carrying an entablature surmounted by a gable. Each gable bears a plaque displaying the school coat of arms. The second floors have stepped lights, with the central light contained within a prominent window surround. The inner faces of these bays are similarly adorned with Ionic strip pilasters. The roofs are hipped with prominent ventilators and multiple brick chimneys.

The attached single-storey ranges at right and left have prominent and ornate entrances. Each features a large round-arched doorway with alternating terracotta and red brick elongated voussoirs forming a sunburst pattern, flanked by art nouveau style Ionic pilasters decorated with festoons that rise through the roof line. The words 'GIRLS' and 'BOYS' respectively fill the space above each doorway in art nouveau lettering. The single-storey ranges to either side have banded terracotta courses and central keystones with rows of two-light windows with divided upper panes. Roofs are hipped with tall brick stacks and ridge ventilators, with those to the left range featuring ornate cupolas.

Rear West Elevation

The central section of this elevation has paired rectangular windows flanked by an entrance to the ground floor. At first-floor level there are six six-light segmental windows with a cornice and parapet above. The second floor is set slightly to the rear of the parapet and has paired full dormers with art nouveau detailing and a square projecting tower at either end.

To either end of the central section stands a five-bay two-storey square projection comprising a rectangular tower with castellated pediment attached to a semi-circular projection with an oriel window and corner pillars rising above a curving parapet. This ends in a three-bay section with a castellated parapet and art nouveau detailing. There is an entrance through each of the curving projections with a cartouche in terracotta above.

The single-storey ranges attached to right and left comprise former play sheds or pavilions which opened to the west onto the once extensive playing fields. Each comprises a central section of nine bays with timber boarding and a central entrance with a timber gablet above. At either end are pyramidal roofed changing rooms with roof ventilators.

North and South Returns

These comprise five bays and three storeys with rows of tall double and single-light windows to all floors with similar detailing to the main elevation. Similar strip pilasters break the roof line with curving caps and paired gables with single oculus. The end bay of each return is formed by a stair tower with segmental windows, raised in height with a rebuilt chimney.

Interior

A single-storey vestibule opens into a large double-height rectangular space with a coffered ceiling supported on substantial Ionic columns that reflect the art nouveau style of the exterior. The east end is dominated by a double-height wooden segmental arcade with art nouveau applied motifs, which continues around the north and south sides. At first-floor level this carries a gallery with a wooden balustrade. At the centre of the eastern side, opposing flights of stairs descend to a lower balcony supporting the headmaster's dais. Classrooms open off this feature to right and left.

Administrative rooms, including a headmaster's room with fireplace and panelling, occupy the ground floor of the arcade. Further to the right there is a large wooden panel commemorating the staff and old boys who fought during the First World War. Classrooms also open off at this level.

The main assembly theatre, originally designed to be closed off behind sliding partitions, has a coffered plaster ceiling, panelling to the side walls and ornate art nouveau influenced Ionic columns.

Subsidiary Features

The surrounding brick wall has stone copings and replacement railings. It is pierced by a main public entrance flanked by ornate gate piers, each bearing a plate listing those fallen during the First World War. Similar gate piers flank the girls and boys entrances, and there are single corner pillars.

Historical Context

The 1902 Education Act replaced school boards and placed education directly under the control and management of town councils, establishing for the first time a publicly maintained system of secondary education. Municipal secondary schools were established to do for the great industrial areas what Endowed Grammar schools had done for the county and market towns. By 1904 the town council of Tynemouth Borough had established a new municipal secondary school in an existing school building, but by 1907, with rising numbers of pupils, it was clear that a new building was imperative and work began on the new school at Hawksey Lane, North Shields.

This school was designed by local architect J C Maxwell and the main contractor was J L Miller of North Shields. The school was constructed to take approximately 400 pupils and cost approximately £27,500. As well as serving as a secondary school, it also functioned as a centre for the training of pupil teachers and for holding evening classes. It was officially opened on 8th November 1909 by Reverend Canon Crawhall.

The school consisted of a two-tier hall with sixteen classrooms opening off it, separated from a large assembly theatre by sliding partitions which could be opened to combine the two large spaces. A gymnasium was provided beneath the assembly theatre. The third floor contained the specialist classrooms including a chemical and physical laboratory and art studios. The side wings contained dining halls and kitchens and a cookery classroom for girls and woodworking rooms for the boys.

During the First World War, 12 masters and 402 old boys enrolled for service and 69 old boys fell. In 1945 a serious fire which began in the second-floor laboratories caused considerable damage to the school's roof and resulted in some minor rebuilding of the upper parts.

The North Shields and Newcastle architect, J C Maxwell, is largely unknown on a national level and this school may be his most significant work. Between 1896 and 1902 he worked in partnership with William Hope of Newcastle, the prolific and respected architect best known as a theatre designer. During their collaboration Hope and Maxwell worked on the rebuilding of the Scotia Music Hall, Glasgow (burnt down in 1961) and Heaton Methodist Church, Newcastle. The latter building of 1902 is described in Pevsner as possessing some 'perverse detail' and it is included in the local list. Features of this building such as the curving crenelations, the projecting semi-circular tower base and the ornate floral décor prefigure the style of the Tynemouth school.

The local author Robert Westall attended the school during the 1930s and the building figures in some of his books, for example 'Falling into Glory' (1993). Although Westall is not well known in England outside of the North East, he published more than 40 novels and is considered by some to be one of the best children's authors of the 20th century.