Cowley High School, South Block

School building, unoccupied at the time of listing (1992). The South Block was built in 1911-12, and is dated 1911 above the doorway. It served as an extension to the original Cowley School, built between 1875 and 1882 by H. Sumners of Liverpool, which was destroyed by fire in October 1993. The building is constructed of small red bricks in stretcher bond, with terracotta dressings and a slate roof, hipped over the main range. It is in an Edwardian Baroque style, with a modified U-plan consisting of a double-pile main range with short wings that clasp a projected ground floor. The building has two storeys and a symmetrical façade of 3:5:3 windows at the first floor. The ground floor projection features a moulded terracotta plinth, banded clasping corner pilasters, a plain frieze with flat coping, and a wide central doorway set within an elaborate open-pedimented terracotta architrave. The architrave includes paired pilasters, a panel lettered ‘A. 1911 D.’, and a cartouche lettered ‘COWLEY SCHOOL’. There are three tall windows on either side of the doorway, with terracotta sills and keystones. Above is the school hall, featuring five large segmental-headed windows with moulded terracotta heads and keystones, the central one being taller and topped with an open segmental-pedimented architrave. A modillioned cornice and a plain parapet extend from the pediment. The roof is hipped, with a wooden bellcote in the centre, incorporating geometrical open tracery, a domed roof, and a tall finial. The wings have clasping corner pilasters, banded open-pedimented gables, and three windows on each floor, with flat-arched heads and an enriched oculus in the gable. The left return wall has a projecting three-window centre with a semi-circular open pediment and modillion work. The rear is of common brick, with regular fenestration and flat-arched red-brick heads; a diagonal, single-storey porch is situated in an angle with the projecting north wing. The interior remains uninspected. It formerly linked to the earlier Cowley School building (latterly known as the North Block) by an external corridor.