Burnley College Adult Education Centre

Burnley College Adult Education Centre, originally Burnley Grammar School, was constructed between 1873 and 1874, with subsequent additions in 1901 and 1934, by the architect William Waddington. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a steeply-pitched slate roof featuring fishscale bands and red cockscomb ridge tiles.

The building is a hall-and-crosswing design, with a north-south hall range, a north-facing crosswing, a stair-turret and porch set at the angle between these, and a smaller wing parallel to the north side of the main block. The architecture is in a Gothic style, with a strongly asymmetrical facade. A prominent two-stage octagonal stair-turret, projecting from the front, is topped by a short tower with a pyramidal roof and a weather vane. The entrance porch has a doorway with double board doors, ornamental strap hinges, and a carved plaque dated 1873. Above the doorway is a triangular oriel window. The stair-turret features lancet windows on the ground floor and transomed windows with arched lights and quatrefoils in the upper floor. The tower behind the turret has cross-windows and a machicolated parapet. A gable facing the street has an elaborately carved oriel window with blank-shield aprons and a brattished parapet topped by a finial in the form of a fantastic beast. The main hall range features mullion-and-transom windows. The rear of the building is of simpler design, with later extensions.

Inside, the main school halls are on the first floor, with arch-braced roofs. There is a large ground-floor room containing a Gothic-panelled wooden partition.