St Martins House and attached gate piers and railings

St Martins House and Attached Gate Piers and Railings

This building was erected as Wyggeston Hospital Boys' School in 1876 by the Leicester architects Shenton & Baker, with a substantial extension added in 1884 for the Shipley Ellis Technical School. The site had previously been occupied by Wyggeston Hospital, founded in the fifteenth century by William de Wyggeston, a wealthy wool merchant. Further additions were made to the complex in 1929–1930 facing Guildhall Lane, with later twentieth-century extensions added in 1950 and 1981. The building became Leicester Grammar School in 1981, an independent selective co-educational day school.

The structure is built in red brick with stone and terracotta dressings, iron windows, and a Welsh slate roof. The main front facing Applegate comprises a two-bay central range of 1876, two storeys high, with an entrance door on the right set beneath a pointed arch with rubbed brick voussours and a stone tympanum carved with a shield. Three small stone windows with stained glass and pointed arches flank the door. To the left is a three-light stone window with mullions and transoms. A chequered blue brick damp course runs between ground and first floors. Between these levels sits a dentilated string course and a band of decorative encaustic tiles inscribed 'WYGGESTON HOSPITAL BOYS' SCHOOL A.D. 1876'. The first floor contains a Venetian window beneath a pointed arch with rubbed brick voussours and a stained glass rose window, its iron glazing bars featuring floral bullions. A three-light window with stone mullions, transoms, and iron glazing bars with floral bullions stands to the left, with moulded terracotta in the tympanum. A moulded terracotta and stone eaves cornice sits within the gable, accompanied by tall moulded chimney stacks and surviving cast iron rainwater goods.

To the right of the main entrance is a two-bay two-storey range of 1876 with an offset buttress between the windows. A single-storey flat-roofed extension of the 1950s adjoins this. The 1884 extension to the right features an entrance door beneath a pointed stone arch with a stone tympanum carved 'THE ELLIS - MEMORIAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL'. Its windows have stone mullions and transoms with iron glazing bars displaying floral bullions. The left first-floor window has a pointed arch with moulded terracotta in the tympanum and a stained glass rose window. A moulded terracotta and stone eaves cornice decorates the gable, with dentilated string courses and cast iron rainwater goods. The block on the far right extends to three storeys across three bays in similar style.

The north elevation facing Guildhall Lane comprises a much plainer two-storey extension of 1930 with timber sash windows and glazing bars, adjoining a single-storey range of 1929–1930 that runs northwards. This northern range has timber sash windows, dormers, and a door with a stone pediment dated 1929.

The south elevation to Peacock Lane consists of a three-storey block of 1884 with four bays and offset buttresses between them. It displays stone mullions and transoms with iron windows and dormers topped with hip knobs. The top left window has a pointed arch with moulded terracotta tympanum and stained glass rose window. Decorative moulded terracotta adorns the gable. Similar rose windows and terracotta mouldings appear on the return elevation facing St Martin's Cathedral.

The rear elevation facing St Martin's Cathedral has been extended by a two-storey plain caretaker block added to the left in the 1950s and a four-storey Thatcher Wing added to the right in the 1980s. Neither extension is of special architectural interest.

The interior contains notable features concentrated in the 1876 block. The entrance hall is distinguished by an elaborate panelled and moulded timber arcade of three pointed arches with a dentilated ceiling cornice surviving above the suspended ceiling. The right and left arches open onto a double-ramped panelled staircase combining into a single return rising to the assembly hall. This hall has an unusual T-plan and features a very ornate and impressive hammerbeam-style timber roof as its principal element. Dado-height matchboard panelling lines the walls, with two Tudor-style doors positioned at the lower end. The upper end contains a stained glass rose window above the stage, with two further stained glass rose windows on the left and right side walls.

The 1876 and 1884 blocks retain additional features of interest, including a stick-baluster staircase in the Ellis Technical School marked by a brass plaque commemorating the block's opening in 1884. Panelled doors, matchboard panelling, and ceiling ventilation ducts appear in the classrooms. An upper room contains a fireplace with an ornate cast iron and tile surround in floral patterns.

The gate piers and cast iron railings survive along Peacock Lane and St Martin's West. The piers are constructed in red brick with pyramidal stone cappings featuring trefoil gablets. The railings are decorated with quatrefoil motifs.