Blackburne House

Blackburne House is a former school that was originally built as a house between 1785 and 1790 and later enlarged from 1874 to 1876. The building is constructed of brick with stone dressings and features a slate roof. It stands two storeys high, with a basement and attic, and has seven bays. The façade includes sill bands, a top cornice, and a blocking course.

On the ground floor, there are tripartite windows supported by colonnettes, pilasters, and tympana adorned with foliage and busts. The second and sixth bays feature two-storey canted bays with architraved windows and an entablature above. The central bay projects forward, with a rusticated ground floor and a round-headed entrance flanked by paired composite columns that support an entablature and a pierced balcony on the first floor.

The first-floor windows are framed by panelled pilasters, consoled entablatures, and pediments, while the canted bays have central segmental pediments. The central bay is highlighted by rusticated quoins and a tripartite window with a tympanum. The second and sixth bays are topped with gables that contain paired round-headed windows. The central bay features a flat pilastrade with three round-headed windows and a segmental pediment, topped with a domical roof that includes a clock and iron cresting.

Inside, the entrance hall boasts a modillioned cornice and a Corinthian stair screen with granite columns. The staircase has a coved ceiling with rich plaster decoration and an octagonal roof light. The right return to the street retains the original house, which has four bays and a portico supported by four Ionic columns leading to a double stairway. The windows throughout are sash style, with flat brick arches.