Thomas Rotherham College

Thomas Rotherham College is a building originally constructed in 1876 as an Independent Theological College by W.G. Habershon and A.R. Pite of London, with L.B. Moore of Bedford acting as contractor. It later served as Rotherham Grammar School, and is now a sixth-form college. The building is constructed of coursed, rock-faced sandstone with ashlar limestone dressings, and has red tile roofs.

The main building features a five-storey tower flanked by two-storey, four-bay side wings. Two additional bays are set forward to the left, and there are three contemporary wings to the rear, with extensive later additions that are broadly sympathetic to the original design. The building incorporates Tudor and Gothic Revival detailing.

The tower has quoins, chamfered and moulded plinths, and offset angle buttresses to the lower part. It has tall, ogee-headed lights, with small offset buttresses and gablets flanking a central pointed arch doorway. The doorway has colonettes and geometric-panelled spandrels. A string course and corbelling support an embattled, two-storey oriel window with a transomed, five-light window to each floor. The second-floor window is shorter, with apron panels containing blank shields and cusped lights. A third-floor string course has buttresses to the right, rising as an octagonal turret. Rectangular openings with hoodmoulds are located on the fourth floor, above a fourth-floor string course beneath a recessed four-light window with a hoodmould. A moulded band sits beneath the embattled parapet. The left return of the tower has two projecting, lateral stacks, while the right return has two two-light windows to the third floor with relieving arches and hoodmoulds, and two similar four-th floor windows with hoodmoulds. A large embattled, octagonal turret is located to the rear right corner.

The side wings have a plinth and quoins. Each bay has moulded cross windows, with the upper light divided into two cusped openings. Relieving arches are evident on the ground floor. The first-floor windows are set beneath coped gables and linked by a string course with gargoyles and a section of embattled parapet. Moulded gable copings have end stacks, with a tall castellated pot positioned on the right stack.

The additional bays to the far left are less ornate and include an attic storey lit by front gables, with lower roofs than the adjacent side wing. The bay to the left is wider and features an embattled, single-storey canted bay window with a transomed, three-light window to the first floor, with a string course rising as a hoodmould. A two-light attic window has a relieving arch. The bay to the right has a cross window to the lower floors, and a single light to the attic. A pointed doorway is located in a two-storey projection on the left return, while the right return has a simpler elevation consistent with the main facade.