Charnwood Street School

This is a school, constructed between 1876 and 1877, with alterations in the late 20th century. It was designed by Edward Burgess for the Leicester School Board. The building is of red brick with ashlar dressings and a plain tile roof. It features a moulded brick plinth, a brick band at ground floor level, raised gables with ashlar coping and kneelers. The central hall is flanked by classrooms.

The north front, originally the main entrance, has a triple arched entrance set back between a gabled wing and a tower. The central, narrow pointed arch has a single window and an inscribed panel dated 1877. Either side are single, broader arches, one partially blocked and inscribed "INFANTS ENTRANCE," the other with an original door marked "GIRLS ENTRANCE." Above are three pairs of casement windows within moulded ashlar surrounds. Further above is a plaque inscribed "SCHOOL BOARD of LEICESTER, Charnwood Street School," alongside a single light and a three-light mullion window. Dormer windows with two- and three-light casements are situated above, with an octagonal brick stair tower to the right, featuring an open timber bell chamber capped with an octagonal tiled spire and an iron weather vane. To the left, a three-story gabled wing with deep brick buttresses has two shallow pointed brick arches containing two-light ashlar mullion windows. Above are two tall cross casement windows and another above, with a five-light wooden casement window in the gable. A projecting square tower to the right has largely blank ground floor with a small two-light ashlar mullion window. Above are a lancet window and a large four-light ashlar cross casement with pointed tops to the lights. Moulded eaves band and a plain brick parapet, rebuilt, are present, along with a set-back square ventilator with two louvred openings on each face, topped with a tall pyramidal roof with a leaded ridge piece. A two-story wing to the right, partly obscured by a single-story addition, has two three-light wooden cross casements.

The east front features a recessed six-window centre with gabled cross wings at either end, the right one taller. A central buttress and a lean-to verandah are present; six former cross casements have had doors inserted. Above are six further cross casements. The left cross wing has a three-light cross casement with brick mullions and a similar window above, topped with a circular window with star tracery. The right, three-story cross wing has similar five-light windows to the lower two floors, and a three-light window in the gable.

The irregular south front contains an off-centre open porch with a square glazed bay above, set under a hipped roof, flanked by three windows to the left and two pairs of windows to the right. The west front has four tall, segment-headed windows to the hall, and to the left, a taller window block topped with a pair of hipped roofs.

Historically, this was the first school designed by Edward Burgess for the Leicester School Board, intended for 790 children and 382 infants.