Former Girls' High School

Former Girls' High School

This school was built in 1911-1912 and designed by the architects Shayler and Ridge. It is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond with limestone dressings, slate roofs and brick chimneystacks.

The building is oriented roughly north-south, parallel with King Street. It comprises a linear main range enclosed by single-storey wings at either end. The main range is two storeys tall and extends for 19 bays. Internally, the main range contains a spinal corridor with classrooms on either side. Offices are grouped around the central front door, and the hall is positioned to the rear. Stairs rise at either end of the building. The upper floor follows a similar layout, though the hall, originally a double-height space, has been subdivided laterally by the insertion of a floor. A large classroom (originally the laboratory) stands to the west of the hall, providing access to the conservatory.

On the principal west-facing facade, the centrepiece is a semi-circular porch with Doric columns, above which sits a half-glazed conservatory with a domed roof. The double front doors are half-glazed with margin glazing bars and fielded panels below, topped by a fanlight. A parapet covers the bay above, featuring a moulded shield with Shropshire's coat of arms, scroll dressings and festoons. On the ridge stands a tall cupola with a domed roof.

Nine window bays flank the porch on either side. The central three bays on each side are set within pedimented projections, with wide stone quoins at the angles. Most windows are six-over-six sashes with three-light hoppers above them. Ground floor window openings have rubbed brick arches with dressed stone keystones. First floor windows meet a modillion cornice that lines both the eaves and the pediments.

At either end of the building, where the main range meets the wings, are small projections containing the students' entrances. These have stone banding, decorative brickwork and prominent keystones. They contain double doors similar to those at the central entrance but without fanlights. Above, keyed oculi light the stairs within.

The matching single-storey wings at either end project forward of the building line and terminate in pedimented gable ends. Modillion courses line the eaves, and wide stone quoins are present. The pitched roofs step down towards the rear, terminating in flat-roofed sections; the southern wing has a louvred ventilator with a hipped roof. Windows diminish in size towards the rear. The east elevations have a row of narrow lights set between a stone band and the eaves, which originally lit the toilets. At the junction of the north wing and the main range is a double doorway with a round-arched brick head, stone banding, and a blocked arched opening. The equivalent arrangement at the south wing was modified in the late 20th century.

On the rear (east) elevation of the main range is a central projection of six window bays indicating the hall's position. The windows are in tall paired openings with rubbed brick arches and moulded stone sills; the present windows are replacements showing where a floor has been inserted internally. North of the hall, the elevation continues with four window bays and terminates with an angle chimneystack. The gable above contains a large multiple-light window with a smaller window on either side, suggesting the space may have had a specialist function. South of the hall are three window bays, followed by a late-20th-century bridge at first floor level connecting the original school to extensions to the east.

The roof structure above the two-storey part is formed by two parallel ranges with pitched and hipped sections.

Internally, on the ground floor the spinal corridor has been largely dry-lined and fitted with a suspended ceiling. Partitions have been inserted and new doorways created, though original doorways remain recognisable by their moulded timber architraves. Some classrooms and offices retain skirtings, window sills, and moulded plaster dado and picture rails. One northern classroom retains internal windows into the corridor, which are multiple-light fixed casements. The stairs are cantilever dog-legs with cylindrical newels, moulded handrails and trios of stick balusters.

On the first floor, some original finishes survive. Glazed brown brick with teal borders line the dado, and plasterwork curves around angles, avoiding sharp corners. Most classrooms retain internal lights to the corridor. Internal doors are half-glazed with six lights. The former laboratory occupies the central room west of the corridor. It has been subdivided and provides access to the conservatory, within which is a plaque reading: 'THE HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS / THE CLOCK WAS GIVEN IN MEMORY OF / ELLEN BROOKE ROSS / 1908 HEADMISTRESS 1938'. The hall, now with a first floor and partitions inserted, occupies part of the roof space and retains plasterwork features showing the position of the roof trusses, with floral mouldings featuring bead and spindle edging. The ceiling contains ventilation panels with lattice grilles and foliate borders.

Low walls of roughly-coursed rubble stone with a brick band and coping stones enclose the forecourt. Gateways are positioned in line with the three entrances and a fourth opening to the south. The boys' and girls' gateways have square stone piers with brick bands and stone caps. These walls and piers have been lowered from their original height, though the general arrangement and openings survive.

The later 20th-century extensions to the east, linked to the main range by a first-floor bridge, are excluded from the listing as they are not considered to be of special architectural or historic interest.