Sheffield City Council Education Committee Offices

School Board offices, Firth College and Central Schools with attached railing, now Sheffield City Council Education Committee Offices. Built 1879–80, designed by T J Flockton and E R Robson for the Sheffield School Board. The adjoining former Science School dates to 1894, designed by J B Mitchell-Withers, also for the Sheffield School Board. The buildings are constructed in ashlar and coursed squared stone with ashlar dressings, hipped and gabled slate roofs, and various coped gable and side wall stacks. The architectural style is Renaissance Revival.

The former School Board Office faces Leopold Street with seven windows flanking a recessed centre with three windows. This section is two storeys plus basement. It features a plinth, pilasters (with those to the ground floor rusticated), first floor and eaves cornices, and an open balustrade. The bow-fronted centre has a central plain sash flanked by pilasters with a segmental pediment above; below sits a central eight-pane sash flanked by single smaller sashes. The basement contains three openings with keystones. The right block, two storeys plus basement, has a central double eight-pane sash flanked by single twelve-pane sashes on the upper floor, and a double eight-pane sash flanked by single eight-pane sashes below, with smaller windows to the lower floors. The canted two-storey left block features a central plaque with festoon, flanked by single round-headed niches, with a similar arrangement of niches and plaques below. The left return facing Orchard Lane has two double eight-pane sashes and above them a single eight-pane sash to the left and two twelve-pane sashes to the right; the basement has four plain openings.

The former Central Schools building stands to the left, comprising two storeys plus basement and clerestory with a nine-window range. It displays rusticated pilasters, a first-floor band, cornice and blocking course. The clerestory features ramped coped gables, each with a pair of corniced square stacks linked by a balustrade. Corner and intermediate pilasters rise to the eaves cornice and are topped with urns. The roof retains the remains of a hexagonal lantern. Windows are chiefly eight-pane sashes arranged singly or in mullioned pairs. The centre contains three paired windows flanked by pilasters, with single windows beyond and two paired windows further out. The clerestory holds twelve two-light wooden cross casements separated by panelled pilasters. The ground floor features a central doorcase reached by a bridge with a wrought-iron balustrade and square piers. The doorcase has Ionic pilasters and a broken pediment containing a crest, with a panelled double door, side lights and an overlight. On either side are a paired window and a single window; beyond are two paired windows. The basement has similar fenestration. At either end, a recessed entrance bay with two storeys contains a paired window above and a moulded doorcase approached by a bridge. The broken pediment contains a plaque inscribed "Boys / Girls", with a small round-headed window above. The gables express stacks as pilasters flanking a large paired window in a moulded round-headed recess with keystone. To the left stands a two-storey block with a first-floor band, cornice and blocking, featuring two paired windows on each floor. Further left is the former Science School, two storeys plus basement with a seven-window range. It has rusticated angle and intermediate pilasters, first-floor and eaves cornice and blocking with urns at the corners, and shouldered round-headed coped gables. Each floor has seven paired windows. To the right is a slightly lower recessed entrance bay with a paired window above and a recessed double door with an enriched lintel and a small window with moulded architrave above; an ornamented panel bears the Sheffield School Board monogram. The left gable contains a Diocletian window to the garret and two paired windows to the ground floor. At the rear, a buttressed block of two storeys has a nine-window range.

A wrought-iron railing with stone plinth and chamfered coping runs the full length of the Orchard Lane frontage.

Firth College has its principal front facing West Street. It is three storeys with a five-window range, featuring cornices to each floor, double angle pilasters to the upper floors, and a balustrade. The projecting centre contains three windows with a single bay central feature topped by a stepped pediment crowned with urns. A two-storey round oriel window with a festooned plinth and frieze displays two windows and single flanking windows, all eight-pane sashes. Beyond are single flanking piers and pilasters. On either side, a paired window with scrolled pediment and beyond, single set-back bays with single windows. Above, a central round-headed window with a balustraded circular balcony is flanked by single windows; beyond are single paired windows then set-back single windows. The ground floor features a moulded round-headed entrance with panelled double doors and a glazing bar fanlight, with spandrels bearing large relief figures and single Doric columns on either side. Beyond are single paired windows then set-back single windows. The left return facing Leopold Street has three storeys above a rusticated basement with a seven-window range. Alternating paired and single windows appear on each floor, the first-floor paired windows bearing scroll pediments. The second floor has similar fenestration with smaller plainer windows. The basement has seven segment-headed openings with rusticated keystoned heads.

To the left is a linking block of two storeys plus attics with a two-window range. It features a rusticated basement, balustrade and mansard roof with two paired windows bearing wreathed aprons and above, two box dormers with nine-pane lights. Below are two triple windows and two basement openings.

Further left stands a larger block of two storeys plus basement and attics with a seven-window range. It has a rusticated basement, cornices to each floor, balustrade and mansard roof. The central round oriel window, with festooned frieze, displays two windows and single flanking windows, all eight-pane sashes. On either side, a paired window with scroll pediment is flanked by single windows. Above, a pair of square coped stacks frames a round-headed window with a semicircular balustrade. On either side is a large pedimented dormer with a paired window, flanked by single box dormers with nine-pane windows. The elaborate central entrance has a round-arched doorway flanked by Doric columns and a broken pediment framing the moulded corbel of the oriel window, with panelled double doors. On either side are three paired windows. The basement contains six segment-headed openings with rusticated keystones. The coped pedimented left gable has two windows and above, a paired window flanked by single windows.

To the left is a three-bay round-arched open arcade with rusticated plinth and pilasters and a balustrade topped with urns, forming a link to the School Board Office building.

The interior was not inspected. The Sheffield School Board adopted high standards of architecture from its inception, employing these well-known architects for their most prestigious buildings. These structures form a homogenous group. E R Robson also designed Board Schools at Brightside and Heeley Bank, though most were designed by local architects. Mark Firth, a prominent steel manufacturer and philanthropist, was the principal benefactor of Firth College.