Benson Junior School

Benson Junior School

This school building is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with yellow and terracotta dressings and a plain tile roof. Above the plenum tower sits a timber spire with a tiled roof and lead cap.

The original building is roughly rectangular in plan, rising to one and two storeys, with classrooms arranged around the sides of two rectangular assembly halls positioned at the centre.

The Benson Road front is the principal elevation, featuring four large gables. Three gables on the left are flush with the wall plane while one on the right projects slightly. Each gable marks a classroom and is topped with plain bargeboards and a terracotta finial. The gables are a distinctive architectural feature throughout the building. Each gable contains a tripartite window with yellow terracotta surround and cusped mouldings. At the centre of this front, rising into a gable, is a large window with a four-centred head. This comprises three lights with moulded terracotta mullions and two transoms. At either side are lower lancets with Tudor-arched heads. Between the second and third gables stands a recessed gable containing a three-light window at first floor level, which forms one gable end of the southern central hall.

The south-west front displays four gables stepped at either side of a central bay. This bay originally contained a projecting porch according to the 1904 Ordnance Survey map, but has been rebuilt. It now has a late-20th century single-storey projection of plum-coloured brick at ground floor level, with mid-20th century brickwork recessed above at first floor. Rising further back is the tower, which has a square base but dies back by broaches to an octagonal upper body. The spire features louvered timber vents to its lower section and a miniature arcade beneath the lead cap, which supports a weather vane. A two-storey projecting wing extends from the far left of this front.

The north-east front comprises five gabled bays, with pairs at either end arranged as on the Benson Road front. The central bay is lower and now connects to a later-20th century T-shaped wing. Three such extensions have been attached to this front.

The north-west front has four narrower bays. These contain a central light with a generous central transom and are otherwise undivided. The two lateral gabled bays project forward. A projecting gabled wing was added to the north-western corner in the early 21st century and connects to the original building via a narrow link corridor.

Many windows across the building have been replaced with uPVC units inserted into the original openings.

The two central assembly halls are similar in size. Both contain cross-axial iron trusses with cut-out patterns to the blade sides. The floors are laid with wood blocks and incorporate metal grilles for heating. Doors and windows with segmental heads open from either side onto classrooms. The lower walls of each hall feature vertical boarding topped with a moulded rail. Classrooms have similar dado panelling and are equipped with either metal or wood trusses, with suspended ceilings or insulation boarding fitted to some rooms.

The three T-shaped extensions on the north-east front and the addition to the north-western corner, all of which date to the 20th and 21st centuries, are not of special interest.