Washington Hall School

NZ35NW WASHINGTON THE AVENUE (east side) 2/75 Washington Hall School

G.V. II

Large house now a residential school. 1854-7 by A.B. Higham of Newcastle, for Isaac Lowthian Bell, chemical manufacturer. Additions of 1865-7 by Philip Webb. Red brick with some diapering of dark headers; ashlar and terracotta quoins and dressings. Welsh slate roof with fishscale bands, some stone copings and finials; tall brick chimneys, either corniced or with conjoined round shafts. Free Tudor style. Complicated plan with long domestic wings. Two storeys and attics. Main (garden) front of 3 wide bays, the right bay gabled, has stone mullioned-and-transomed 6-light window at left, and 2 canted bays with parapets. Hoodmoulds to upper windows; moulded eaves cornice and one gabled dormer. Left return irregular with big 2-centred arch to recessed porch with stone benches. Right return similar to garden front but has 4-storey saddle- back tower, with leaded f1èche, in angle to east wing. In tower, a pinnacled frontispiece with Tudor-arched doorway. Windows mainly casements. Interior has some original fittings but has lost the Turkish bath installed by Webb. Historical note: the birthplace of Gertrude Bell, explorer and Middle Eastern expert.

Listing NGR: NZ3109356360