Saltaire School Including Wall, Gate Piers And Sculpted Lions To Front Area, And Gate To South Side

This school, now part of Shipley College, was built in 1869 by Lockwood and Mawson for Titus Salt. It is constructed of rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings, and has a Welsh slate roof. The building is designed in the Italianate style.

The school comprises three pedimented pavilions linked by a three-bay open colonnade with lower rooms behind. The central pavilion projects forward and features two round-arched windows with console keystones, flanked by Corinthian columns that support an entablature. The tympanum above these windows is elaborately carved with a roundel bearing the Salt coat of arms, with alpaca figures and foliage decoration on either side. Above this is an elaborate bell-turret, from which the bell is missing, and which includes carved figures of a boy and a girl, and a globe. The side pavilions each have a single large Venetian window, with a roundel bearing the initials 'T.S.' within the tympanum of each. The building has a deep bracketed eaves cornice and pediments finished with acroteria. A nine-bay, two-storey wing projects from the rear, and the left and right returns each have eight bays, with three bays on either side of a more elaborate, gabled two-bay centre. The return windows are round-arched and archivolted, with those in the centre featuring Corinthian colonnettes and single oculus windows above. A basement is present along the right elevation due to the sloping ground.

A low, rock-faced stone boundary wall runs along the front area, with cast-iron railings to the sides, featuring round bars, dog-bars, and spear-head finials. Two pairs of square ashlar piers are located in the centre, these being headless. Two large corner piers feature sculpted lions by Thomas Milnes of London, representing Determination and Vigilance.

Originally designed for 750 children, boys and girls were segregated within the two principal rooms, while infants were accommodated in the smaller central room. The school is set back from the road, and the front area, along with the adjacent Institute, forms a formal, gardened square. This building is part of the wider Saltaire model village.