Fosse Neighbourhood Centre And Library (Formerly Mantle Road School)

This building began as a school, now serving as a Neighbourhood Centre and Library. It was constructed in 1898 and converted in the late 20th century. Designed by Edward Burgess for the Leicester School Board, it is built of orange brick with brick dressings and slate roofs, featuring raised parapets and gables. The architectural style is Free Domestic Revival.

The west facade along Mantle Road presents a symmetrical 20-window front, with a central 11-window projection. The central section is recessed with tall glazing bar sashes on each floor, flanked by projecting gabled wings, each with four tall glazing bar sashes and slightly projecting two-window centres topped with segmental pediments. Set back to either side are two-window sections, the right forming the base of the ventilation tower. The square brick tower has chamfered corners, a stone plaque inscribed "Mantle Road Board School", and a single semi-circular arched opening on each face. Further up are moulded bands, octagonal corner pinnacles, and an octagonal cupola topped with a leaded dome. To the right is a set-back four-window section with a single-storey projecting entrance loggia featuring three round arches, four brick pilasters, and a plain parapet. A set-back wing to the left has a single sash window and a projecting round-arched loggia.

The south front has a recessed centre and projecting wings at either end. The centre features a covered playground loggia with four tall cast iron columns supporting classrooms with ten glazing bar sash windows. The left gable has three small windows on the ground floor and a single tall sash above. The right gable links to a lower two-storey wing with a single-storey classroom beyond, originally a cookery room or workshop, featuring a roof ventilator. The north front has a recessed 10-window centre with glazing bar sashes; a corner has an octagonal brick stack tapering and projecting well above the roofline. A projecting right gabled cross wing has an open first-floor loggia with three round brick arches, corner pilasters, and a plain parapet. A two-storey projection to the left has two small windows on the ground floor and two taller sashes above. A slightly set-back left gable has a pilastered frontispiece with a door and two small round-headed windows above three small windows, with a tall sash above.

The interior retains original features, including staircases with ornate iron balustrade, original doors, and some glazed partition walls. The hall features a fine wooden panelled roof and a stage at one end. Erected in 1898, the school was designed to accommodate 1,070 children and 320 infants.