Former Sunday School, Carlton Terrace

Former Sunday School, Carlton Terrace

A purpose-built Sunday school named Harrison Road Schools, built in 1872 by an unknown architect.

The building is constructed of coursed shaped sandstone bricks with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. It is rectangular in plan, three bays wide and seven bays deep, with two storeys. On the eastern side at both the northern and southern ends is an extra bay enclosing a narrow courtyard. The main gabled roof extends over the three western bays only; the extra bays at front and rear have pitched roofs facing east.

The north elevation has four bays with four round-arch windows to the first floor, each with ashlar dressings and keystones and original sash windows with margin lights. The ground floor has three rectangular sash windows with dressings and margin lights, and an off-centre main entrance with an ashlar architrave and cornice surrounding a six-panel door and side panel with a rectangular overlight. A triangular gable with dentils is situated over the three western bays, with a carved panel at its centre bearing the words "AD 1872 HARRISON ROAD SCHOOLS". The west side has six first floor windows similar to those at the front, with a gap between the fifth and sixth windows where stonework has infilled the site of a former link with the adjacent chapel to the west. The ground floor has six windows of similar character, with one missing at the northern end. The roof line is dentilled. The rear elevation has four first floor windows similar to those at the front, two rectangular windows to the right and one bricked-up window to the left of a narrow entrance door with plain surround. In the gable above is a round-arched serliana window. The south-west corner is chamfered at ground floor level. The east side is similar to the west side at first floor, but has altered windows at ground floor including blocked entrances. The northern extension bay shows scarring from an earlier building on its rear face. At the southern end in the courtyard to the east of the building are steps down to a basement boiler room extending beneath the southern extension bay.

The ground floor interior is divided into a series of rooms of varying size on either side of a central corridor. The main entrance opens into a larger space occupying most of the building's width, with a removed staircase in the north-west corner from which a corridor runs directly to the rear door. Immediately to the left is a room with fitted cupboards, panelling and a blocked fireplace with its surround intact though painted over. Other smaller rooms have half-panelled walls and half-glazed panelled doors with internal windows above. A toilet block with inserted partitions and plain doors occupies halfway down the east side. Some rooms have had skirting boards removed; some have built-in cupboards. An exit door to the courtyard leads from the main corridor. The rear-most room on the west side has a coal chute from the rear wall positioned beneath the underside of a staircase leading to the first floor. The staircase, between panelled walls, opens directly into the upper floor, which is largely a single open space. The rear extension bay is a separate small room that formerly housed a staircase. The front extension bay is a separate room housing a kitchen. The floor is boarded and there is a gap at the north-west corner where a staircase has been removed. The ceiling is lowered, hiding the serliana window in the rear gable end; the springing of the trusses is visible below the false ceiling. Decorative ironwork grilles from the original heating system remain around part of the walls, which are half-panelled.

At the front of the building is a low stone wall supporting iron railings with stone pillars on either side of two steps leading to the main entrance; these are similar to the listed railings around the adjacent chapel.