Strand Street School

Strand Street School is a school building dating from 1910 to 1912, designed by HC Scaping of Grimsby and constructed by Henry Marrows for the Grimsby Education Authority. Later alterations and additions were made in the 20th century. The building is constructed of red brick with white brick and stone dressings, with glazed bricks to the base of the ground floor, and has a tarmac roof. It is approximately rectangular in plan, with projecting stair turrets located centrally on the east side and to the south-west corner.

The exterior is two storeys high, featuring a rooftop playground. The main fronts exhibit blind arcading on the first floor, with recessed panels in each bay framed by pilasters. The north front, facing Strand Street, has four wide bays, each with tripartite windows set beneath segmental brick arches, with a keystone above the central light. A two-course white brick impost band runs along the front. The former entrance, in the first bay, features an ashlar architrave, a modillioned cornice, and a hood. The original four-pane overlight has a more recent 20th-century window and brick blocking below. First-floor windows match those on the ground floor, with a further two-course white brick flush band linking the projecting sills. All windows have wood mullions, transoms, glazing bars, and stone sills. Decorative rainwater heads between bays are incorporated into prominent downpipes. Pilasters support a continuous entablature with moulded brick cornices. A coped parapet rises to piers that extend from the first-floor pilasters; the parapet walls contain a large round-headed keyed arched opening with an ornate ironwork grille featuring a scrollwork fan design in each bay. Some parapet piers also serve as chimney stacks.

The west elevation has six narrower bays with two-light and single-light windows. A segmental-headed entrance is located in the fifth bay, with steps leading to the door beneath a tall, narrow overlight. The sixth bay bears a foundation stone in an architrave, inscribed with the date 15th December 1910, and recording the architect, builder, and other details. This elevation’s parapet showcases three keyed arched openings with iron grilles, flanked by single matching blind panels. The south elevation features a stair turret on the left and three bays to the right, with details similar to the other fronts. The east stair turret has a single first-floor window and a top stage with a keyed round-arched grilled opening to the east, a round oculus on each return, and a plain coped parapet. The rooftop playground includes an open shelter on the south side, beneath a pitched roof, flanked by short hipped sections.

The interior was altered in the late 20th century with suspended ceilings, but still retains original features, including pointed arched openings with keystones initialled “SS”, glazed brick walling, and doors with architraves. An inscribed plaque inside the west entrance commemorates the school’s opening on 11 January 1912 by Lady Doughty. The school provides a very good example of Edwardian architecture, successfully adapting its plan form with the rooftop playground.