Former School Of Art And Design And Boundary Wall

The Former School of Art and Design, originally built as a Pupil Teachers' Centre, is now part of Bolton Metropolitan College. It was constructed in 1901 by architects Bradshaw and Gass. The building is made of brick and terracotta, topped with a slate roof.

It has two storeys over a basement and features a symmetrical design with two parallel ranges, where the rear range is longer than the front. The entrances are located in projecting porches, and there are stair towers at the angles on either side. The porches have flat roofs and are arcaded with segmentally arched doors and windows, while the stair towers have bell-cast roofs supported by short pilasters over an arcaded upper storey.

The main range facing the street is also symmetrically designed, featuring a full-height central canted bay with two-window mullioned and transomed windows. This bay is further accentuated by a canted projection with a domed roof. The upper storey has large studio windows, and the lower storey has continuous mullioned and transomed windows in the outer bays, with tripartite windows above, including a wide central segmentally arched light beneath a gable. The rear of the building mirrors this symmetry with a central full-height canted bay, which has paired transomed windows on the ground floor and a tripartite segmentally headed window above. Pilasters define the angles and continue to enhance the open-work terracotta balustrade of the parapet.

The outer ranges feature continuous bands of fenestration, divided by pilasters into bays arranged in a pattern of 3-1-3-1. There is a segmental pediment with a lunette above the inner three-window range, and a domed bow with two tiers of windows on the ground floor in the outer ranges.

The building is enclosed at the front by a boundary wall made of brick with terracotta dressings. This wall features a low plinth with concave moulded terracotta copings, which is punctuated by taller piers topped with terracotta ball finials, and paired terracotta gate-piers on either side.