Washington Hall School

Washington Hall School is a large house that has been converted into a residential school. It was built between 1854 and 1857 by A.B. Higham of Newcastle for Isaac Lowthian Bell, a chemical manufacturer. Additions were made between 1865 and 1867 by Philip Webb. The building features red brick with some dark header diapering, along with ashlar and terracotta quoins and dressings. The roof is made of Welsh slate with fishscale bands, and it has some stone copings and finials. The tall brick chimneys are either corniced or have conjoined round shafts, and the overall style is Free Tudor.

The plan of the building is complicated, with long domestic wings, and it stands two storeys high with attics. The main garden front has three wide bays, with the right bay gabled. It includes a stone mullioned-and-transomed six-light window on the left and two canted bays with parapets. The upper windows have hoodmoulds, and there is a moulded eaves cornice along with one gabled dormer. The left return is irregular and features a large two-centred arch leading to a recessed porch with stone benches. The right return is similar to the garden front but includes a four-storey saddle-back tower with a leaded fleche at the angle to the east wing. The tower has a pinnacled frontispiece with a Tudor-arched doorway, and most of the windows are casements.

Inside, there are some original fittings, although the Turkish bath installed by Webb has been removed. Historically, this building is notable as the birthplace of Gertrude Bell, an explorer and expert on the Middle East.