Castleford Three Lane Ends First School

Castleford Three Lane Ends First School is a school building constructed between 1939 and 1940 by architect Oliver Hill, featuring a faience frieze by John Skeaping. The structure is primarily made of brick, with some faience facing and iron window frames, and showcases a 20th-century International style.

The building has a long double-depth range with a curving plan, where the concave side faces south. It is single-storey in height, although it appears to have two storeys on the southern facade. Attached at a right angle near the west end of the north side is a higher single-storey assembly hall.

The south facade consists of eight bays with rounded ends, divided horizontally by a flat-roofed open canopy that leads to a sun terrace. Continuous fenestration is present in each classroom both below and above this canopy, and at each end, the canopy sweeps out in a wide curve supported by slender columns. The flat roof above overhangs the top of the wall, echoing the sweeping line of the sun terrace canopy.

The north side, which serves as the entrance front, is divided into two halves. The left half features a convex wall mostly covered with a deep frieze of green faience adorned with incised deer, topped by a continuous band of square windows. The main doorway is located to the left of this section, near the east end. The western half replaces the frieze with fenestration, and the assembly hall, which may be a later addition, forms a wing at the west end with large iron-framed windows on both sides.

Inside, a curving axial corridor separates the classrooms and office on the south side from the cloakrooms, kitchens, and other facilities on the north side.