Main Block To Edgbaston College For Girls

The main block of Edgbaston College for Girls comprises a substantial, originally detached, Grecian-Egyptian style villa dating to around 1835, significantly extended between 1883 and 1886 to form the college. The later extensions were executed in a sympathetic stucco style.

The original villa features a two-storey, three-bay stucco façade. The ground floor is grooved, with an entablature above, and panelled plaster strips articulate the bays, each containing two round-headed, full-height windows recessed within arched surrounds. Coupled, panelled pilasters rise to the first floor, where windows are set within Greco-Egyptian eaved architraves, the tripartite window on the right-hand side being particularly notable. The “primitive” style porch has been renovated, and the doorway sits within a Greco-Egyptian eaved architrave case. To the right, a two-bay recessed extension mirrors the first-floor articulation and incorporates coupled round-headed piers flanking ground-floor windows. A recessed wing, likely originally serving as service areas, is located to the left, characterised by narrow windows and a doorway supported by console brackets. Projecting from a link with subsequent school additions is a circa 1886 art block, featuring a pediment and a largely blind facade. The main school additions, located to the left of the original house, are distinguished by ground quoins, coupled pilasters to the first floor, and entablatures on both floors. Corniced stucco chimneys are present. The original house has a plain entablature, topped by hipped slate roofs.

The garden front of the original villa has five bays, with pilasters to the ground floor and splayed architrave windows above a first-floor string course, echoing the front facade. An addition of a two-storey canted bay is present at the left-hand end, alongside two further canted bay windows on the ground floor. Rear additions for the school are more typical of the 1880s, constructed primarily of red brick. Notable examples include the gymnasium and hall of 1886, built of dark red brick with rubbed brick dressings, tall camber-headed windows set in architraves, and soffit eaves beneath a hipped slate roof. The school additions were designed by the Chatwin architectural practice.

The interior of the original villa has been extensively remodelled. The c.1850 vestibule features a three-bay arcade supporting the vestibule from a pilastered hall, with a foliage cornice.