Stockport College Of Further And Higher Education Annexe

A council secondary school built in 1909-10, designed by Cheers & Smith of Blackburn and Twickenham for the County Borough of Stockport as a Municipal Secondary School for Girls. The building is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and banding, terracotta mouldings, Westmorland graduated slate roofs, red terracotta ridge tiles, tall brick stacks, and cast-iron railings.

The building follows a modified U-shaped plan with an attached former caretaker's house on its south-west side, which has a sub-triangular plan with canted bay. The central range contains lower and upper halls flanked by classrooms on three sides, with staircases at either end.

The symmetrical principal elevation faces north onto Greek Street. It features moulded stone sill bands to the first floor and stone cornice to the second floor. Four-storey square corner towers with plinth rise to the full height, their corner pilasters banded from the first floor to the cornice. Above the second floor sits a third storey with shaped parapets and slated pyramidal spires topped with ventilator cupolas. Each tower face displays three multi-pane sash windows per floor: segmental-headed on the ground floor, flat-headed on the first and second floors with a wider central window, and segmental-headed on the third floor infilled with stone cartouches.

The central four-bay range rises four storeys with a sunken ground floor and glazed mansard roof to the third floor. Four wide segmental-arched windows pierce the ground floor, with multi-pane hopper windows to the upper part. Stone heads with projecting voussoir blocks and console keystones frame these openings. Tall round-headed windows rise through the first and second floors, comprising paired six-over-six-light sashes with multi-pane overlights and similar carved stone heads. Upper windows are separated by banded pilasters bearing individual carved stone mottos reading, from left to right: SCIENCE, LITERATURE, ART.

The west side elevation is irregular. A cornice to the tower (on the left) is inscribed SECONDARY SCHOOL 1909. On the south side of the tower sits the main raised entrance doorway with curved steps and semi-circular stone balustrade. The stone door surround features a broken-base pediment canopy, and the panelled double door has glazing to the uppermost panels and a large overlight. Fenestration to the tower is irregular: paired two-light sashes on the first floor adjacent to the doorway, a single six-over-nine-pane sash on the south side of the second floor, and two windows on the third floor similar to those in the north elevation. A tall chimney stack rises in the south-west corner.

Attached to the south side is a four-storey range with shaped Dutch gable. Three segmental-arched windows punctuate the ground floor, while wider mullioned central windows flank narrower windows on the upper floors, all fitted with multi-pane sashes. A narrow canted stair bay on the south side contains multi-pane sashes and upper oculi. A tall chimney stack stands in the south-east corner. A second similar four-storey range with shaped Dutch gable is set back from the building line. The attached former caretaker's house features a canted bay.

The interior is richly detailed throughout. The lobby of the main entrance doorway on the west elevation is lined with glazed tiles featuring Art Nouveau motifs and a mosaic floor. Two brass plaques record the school's opening in 1910 and list the education committee members.

On the north side of the central four-bay range, a lower hall—formerly a gymnasium—occupies the ground floor. It is supported by cast-iron columns with decorative capitals and features a gallery with iron balustrade along the north side. The upper hall, a former assembly hall, rises through the first and second floors. An iron balustrade with decorative cartouches (boxed in) runs around three sides. Walls are finished with three-quarter-height fielded timber panelling, some painted. The ceiling features moulded cross beams supported on decorative plaster consoles.

A first-floor classroom retains similar fielded panelling and built-in panelled and glazed bookcases, together with a corner fireplace crowned by a moulded timber chimneypiece with mirror to the overmantel. Other classrooms preserve corner fireplaces, tiling to dado level (now painted), fixed cupboards, and blackboard frames. Parquet flooring, cast-iron radiators, picture rails, and moulded cornices are found throughout. An original part-glazed room divider remains in one larger classroom. Original doors are four-panelled with fifteen-pane glazing to the upper part and brass Art Nouveau door plates. Many doors feature tall segmental-arched hopper overlights which open to provide cross ventilation. Doors to larger classrooms have small-paned side windows with hopper overlights above both. Multi-paned segmental-arched borrowed lights between some classrooms and corridors retain original metal opening rod mechanisms to the hopper top lights.

The top floor housed more specialist classrooms. Art rooms are lit by north-facing glazed mansard roof. On the south side of the corridor stands a large room, possibly a science laboratory, with an attached store room and preparation room, both featuring decoratively treated timber ceiling beams.

Most corridors are finished with terrazzo floors and tiling up to dado level (now painted), with moulded cornices and decorative plaster consoles.

Subsidiary features include cast-iron railings, a wall, and brick and stone piers fronting the sunken ground floor area on the north side of the central range.

In 1970 the school merged with the adjacent Technical School to the east, which subsequently became Stockport College of Further and Higher Education. The two buildings are linked by a modern corridor. The modern corridor on the east side of the Greek Street annexe and the main college building are not of special interest.