Former School and school-master's house

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 6 May 2025 to update the Name and Address and reformat the text to current standards

1208-1/1/10014

ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA WHITNASH No 103 (St Margarets Church Centre)

(Formerly listed as Old Whitnash School and school-master's house)

25-OCT-05

II

School and school-master's house. 1860 and 1873. William Davis, architect of the later addition. Red brick in Flemish and English bond with a plain tile roof. Two storey house with a single storey schoolroom, the two ranges set at right angles.

EXTERIOR: The road front has the school master's house at left with a projecting gable which has a canted oriel with a hipped roof at ground floor level and a two-light casement to the first floor, both with metal lattice fenestration with a slit window to the gable. To the right of this and recessed is the school room range and there is a lean-to porch in the re-entrant angle. The schoolroom has two three-light casements with replacement glazing. At right again and slightly recessed is a further bay, added in 1873, to provide a second schoolroom with its own small gabled porch. The right side is the façade of the schoolmaster's house with a projecting gabled wing at left and two bays to the right with a front door. The ground floor has cross windows and the first floor has two-light and single casements, all having metal lattice fenestration. The rear has random fenestration to the house and three-light lattice casements to the schoolroom and the right hand gable end has a large four-light lattice casement and a louvred oculus to the apex.

INTERIOR: The schoolmaster's house has its original ground floor plan. The schoolrooms have their original roofs with chamfered timbers to the trusses and exposed reeds for insulation. There are circular brass heating vents to the floors and fitted cupboards with panelled doors.

This mid-C19 school and schoolmaster's house were mostly built in 1863 before the passing of the 1870 Education Act and as such they are a good example of a Victorian village school built at a relatively early date. They have their original plans and have significant original features, most notably the metal lattice windows.