Former Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool

The former Royal School for the Blind in Liverpool has a workhouse-style plan with an entrance range fronting Hardman Street and four wings radiating from a domed rotunda to the rear. A long additional rear wing runs at right angles to the south wing alongside Back Hope Place. A 1930-2 extension is attached to the eastern end of the front range and runs alongside Hope Street. Four former male and female exercise yards are set between the rear wings.

The building has slate and lead-covered roofs, with some corrugated-metal coverings on later extensions, and a concrete rotunda dome.

Front (north) elevation

The principal front elevation faces Hardman Street and extends for 13 bays with a carved plinth and entablatures above the ground and first floors. The elevation is faced with Bath stone and has architraved sash windows of various configurations, including 2-over-2, 2-over-4 and 6-over-6 sashes. Set to the centre of the original building is a pedimented pavilion with rounded inset corners containing curved windows that are also repeated on the pavilion's rear corners. The pavilion has an attic level that is not expressed externally, and the roof is largely hidden by a parapet. Set to the centre of the pavilion's ground floor are panelled double doors flanked by paired antae, which also flank the adjoining windows (which have replacement glazing). The first floor has a pierced balustrade and a central window crowned by a consoled pediment.

The pavilion is flanked by side wings, which were originally single-storey and of 3 bays, but were extended by a further bay and an additional storey in the mid to late 19th century. Bays 3 and 11 project and have tripartite windows with slender plate-glass side lights set behind fluted Ionic colonnettes and flanked by paired antae. The end bays are pedimented and also project with paired windows to both floors, again set behind a fluted Ionic colonnette and flanked by paired antae. The rear elevations of the side wings are plainer and are in brick with red-sandstone sills and lintels to the windows. The eastern side wing has later-19th century and 20th century extensions attached to the rear: these include an original 2-storey projection to the centre that has been rebuilt and altered on the upper storey, a 2-storey infill section to the right and a first-floor link to the left with corrugated cladding.

A 3-storey, 5-bay, flat-roofed, 1930-2 extension by Anthony Minoprio and Hugh Greville Spencely is attached to the left of the entrance range via a 2-storey, 2-bay link extension of the same date. The extension, which is built on the site of John Foster Junior's demolished Greek Doric chapel, is in stripped classical style with Portland-stone facings and a second floor expressed as an attic level and set above a cornice. The front elevation facing Hardman Street incorporates fluted pilaster strips that echo the portico of Foster's chapel with rose motif reliefs set above the two outer strips on each side; relief lettering to the centre above the pilaster strips, which is believed to have originally said 'SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND', has been removed. Each bay is also decorated with a small sculptured panel by John Skeaping set between the ground and first floor, which depict the school's activities, including brush-making, basket work, piano tuning and reading Braille. The windows contain original aluminium window frames with later secondary glazing visible internally; three of the four ground-floor windows to the front elevation have alterations to the lower panes.

The 11-bay east return elevation facing Hope Street is similarly styled, but with shorter ground-floor windows, and has a stepped corner, which displays a further panel by Skeaping depicting knitting and also has an altered ground-floor window. Adorning a plain frieze below the cornice are rose motif reliefs and bronze numerals bearing the dates '1850' and '1931'. The extension originally had a set of bronze double doors to the front and a single bronze door to the Hope Street elevation by James Woodford, which incorporated reliefs symbolising the life and work of the school, as well as an image of Christ healing the blind and one of the cured giving thanks to the heavens. Both sets of doors were removed to the school's Wavertree site in 1971 and have been replaced by panelled doors. Above the Hope Street entrance is the inscription 'CHRIST HEALS THE BLIND,/ FOR WHO DENIES/ THAT IN THE MIND/ DWELL TRUER SIGHT/ AND CLEARER LIGHT/ THAN IN THE EYES?'. The stepped corner also incorporates an inscription recording that the extension is constructed upon the site of the chapel. The rear elevations are of brick and are plain with mainly multipaned casement windows.

Rear wings and rotunda

Behind the front range are the rear wings and rotunda, which are more utilitarian in design and styling than the entrance range, with brickwork laid in Flemish bond. The rotunda has round-arched windows to the ground floor and square-headed windows to the first floor, and the concrete dome, which was possibly rebuilt after the Second World War, incorporates a cupola. The short links that connect the rotunda to the rear wings have barrel-vaulted roofs with lead coverings. Curved brick external stairs with sandstone treads, slender wrought-iron wreathed handrails and stick balusters lead down from the rear of the east and west wing links into two of the rear yards; a doorway accessing the east stair has been bricked up and some of the stair's balusters are missing.

The rear wings have a mixture of timber, metal and cast-iron sash and fixed multipaned windows (many have been altered or replaced) with brick lintels and red-sandstone sills, except for the north wing windows, which have red-sandstone sills and wedge lintels. The windows to the east and west wings have round-arched heads to the ground and first floors; a few unaltered, fixed 28-pane, arched windows survive and some have original ventilator openings to the centre (other thicker ventilator openings are later insertions). Later external wall stacks, metal fire escapes and ventilation ducts have been added to the wings in places, as well as single-storey constructions in the north-west rear yard, which infill much of the space between the entrance range and west wing. The north wing is of 3 storeys plus basement due to the inclusion of a mezzanine level between the ground and first floor, which carries the internal corridor leading to the music room. The east wing is now twice as long as it was originally, having been extended by 4 bays in 1930-2 in order to connect to the Minoprio & Spenceley extension. The extension is in a matching style to the original part of the wing, but with the brickwork laid in English garden wall bond, rather than Flemish bond. The south wing has rounded corners, as do the east and west wings where they adjoin the rotunda links. A late-20th century lift shaft with corrugated cladding is attached to the west side of the south wing where it adjoins an additional rear wing lying alongside Back Hope Place.

The long wing attached at a right angle to the south wing and backing onto Back Hope Place was originally for rope making. It is of a lower 2 storeys and is constructed of brick laid in English garden wall bond with a brick corbel table and red-sandstone sills and lintels to the windows; many of the windows have been altered and some on the first floor overlooking Back Hope Place have been bricked up. Single-storey and 2-storey late-20th century extensions relating to the wing's use as the Flying Picket nightclub, including a double-height glazed extension, are attached to the north side of the wing. A late-19th/early-20th century lean-to shelter with cast-iron supporting columns incorporating foliated capitals exists to the western end of the wing.

Interior

Internally the building retains door and window architraves, some fireplaces, and deep skirtings and has mainly floorboard and concrete floors, with an encaustic tiled floor in the main stair hall. Various areas are in poor condition.

The entrance hall, which originally contained the school's shop, has a timber draught lobby, paired pilaster wall decoration and classical plasterwork, including a heavy cornice and a coffered ceiling (partly collapsed at the eastern end) with rosettes. A pedimented doorway with decorative consoles is located to the centre of the rear wall and leads through into the main stair hall, beyond which are the four rear wings radiating from the domed rotunda. Two similarly styled doorways at each end of the entrance hall lead into the side wings.

The west side wing contains the former committee room, which is a large room with a dentil cornice, moulded architraves, panelled undersides to the windows, and window shutters. A chimneybreast and marble fireplace at the western end of the room are believed to have been inserted when the wing was enlarged in the mid to late 19th century, replacing a bay window. The fireplace at the eastern end of the room has been heavily damaged and mostly removed. A later 19th century doorway inserted into the rear wall accesses the north-west rear yard. A smaller room at the western end of the wing, which is a mid to late 19th century addition, is plainer, but has similar detailing to its windows; the room's fireplace has been removed.

The east side wing contains the former female work room, which has been subdivided, but retains a timber and cast-iron fireplace, simple moulded cornicing, architraves and windows that share the treatment of those in the former committee room. A doorway in the rear wall with a damaged architrave leads into a small, extended former toilet block; the doorway is believed to have been moved from its original central position when the room was subdivided. Like the committee room, a chimneybreast and timber and cast-iron fireplace at the eastern end of the room are mid to late 19th century additions when the wing was extended. An adjacent wide, arched opening leads to a small room in the mid to late 19th century extension and also a flight of steps accessing the 1930s link, with a further flight accessing the main part of the Minoprio and Spenceley extension.

The main stair is top-lit by a rectangular roof lantern and is of painted stone with heavy vase balusters to the lowest flight and decorative cast-iron splat balusters and a timber handrail to the cantilevered upper flights. The stair's lowest flight rises from a central position as if commencing an imperial stair, but then turns to the left and rises as an open-well stair. The building contains many differing floor levels and the main stair's lowest flight rises to a half-landing that has an arched opening leading through to a mezzanine level corridor in the north wing, and the rotunda and additional rear wings beyond. The corridor was originally intended to carry visitors straight through to the school's music/concert room in the south wing; thus there are no doorways into the rooms on each side, which are set on different floor levels and are accessed independently from the rotunda end; that to the east side of the corridor is accessed via a short curved stair, whilst a corresponding stair leading into the western rooms has been blocked-off. The western first-floor rooms of the north wing are accessed through another arched opening on the main stair's second half-landing, with an adjacent doorway providing access into a room on the eastern side of the wing.

Set to each rear corner of the entrance pavilion and flanking the stair hall are two small rooms that were originally the matron's parlour (left) and the governor's office (right). Both rooms have lost their fireplaces and have been reduced in size through the insertion of later corridors connecting into the side wings. A doorway has also been inserted in the rear wall of the governor's office to connect into the former female music rooms on the ground floor of the north wing, which have been altered and opened-up to form one large room, but retain a series of original grilles along the eastern wall.

The first-floor rooms in the entrance range are plain, including in the side wings, with some later cornicing. A small room above the former governor's office retains a painted-timber fire surround, and a corresponding room above the former matron's parlour retains the damaged remains of an identical painted-timber fire surround with a cast-iron insert. The rest of the entrance range's fireplaces have all been removed, but chimneybreasts survive. The east side wing incorporates an altered projection and later extensions to the rear. The attic rooms are also plain and are lit by modern rooflights.

Minoprio & Spenceley's 1930-2 extension retains some parquet floors and the school's shop, which was relocated to the extension's front ground-floor room overlooking Hardman Street, retains some built-in display cases to the south wall. However, the rest of the interior is plain and has been altered. A lift shaft and stair are located on the Hardman Street side of the building, with a further stair located on the Hope Street corner.

The rotunda is lined with arched doorway and window openings on the ground floor and square-headed openings (both true and blind examples) on a first-floor gallery. The gallery has a classically decorated cast-iron balustrade, and a replaced concrete dome decorated with a partly-damaged 1986 mural by the artist Michael 'Mick' Jones (son of the trade unionist Jack Jones) depicting Socialist Realist images relating to the Merseyside Trade Union, including marching Liverpool workers, the Halewood car factory, a dock crane and ship yards, as well as a central image of Edward Rushton, one of the co-founders of the school. A companion piece by Mick Jones entitled Unemployment on Merseyside - Campaigning for the Right to Work (1993), which was formerly in the People's Centre on Mount Pleasant is now displayed in the Museum of Liverpool. On the ground-floor level the short links connecting the rotunda to the east and west wings provide access to the external stairs leading to the yards, although the doorway to the east stair has now been bricked up. The western link also has an elliptical spiral stair off to the north side with a wrought-iron handrail and stick balusters.

The ground floor of the east wing originally contained the dining room, whilst the west wing contained the male work room, and the south wing contained a music/concert room, all with dormitories above. All the spaces are plain and open-plan and are of lesser interest, although the first-floor room in the west wing retains a timber fire surround with a cast-iron insert and grate. The south wing's ground-floor music room was where the pupils performed and has since been altered, with the former stage area now subdivided, a later stair inserted, and a doorway knocked through to provide access into a modern lift that is shared with the far rear wing adjacent to Back Hope Place. The basement rooms in each wing have been altered and modernised; the former kitchens are located in the south wing. The far rear wing has been heavily altered internally following conversion into a nightclub in the late 20th century.