Former Blue Coat School

Former Blue Coat School

This building dates from 1856 to 1857 and was designed by James Murray. It incorporates part of the remains of the medieval Coventry Priory and is constructed of stone with a tile roof.

The school stands partially on top of the remains of the west front of the priory church. Its plan is largely L-shaped, with the remains of the north-west tower of the Priory at its northern corner and a long range running south roughly along the line of the west front. A modern lift tower extension infills the space to the rear.

The building is characterised by its Victorian Gothic style with detailing reminiscent of a French Chateau. The main four-bay range runs north-south along the line of the west front of the priory church and is of two storeys with a tall sloping roof above. At ground floor level, the former covered playground features arched openings in deeply-moulded surrounds, now infilled with modern glazing. Tall buttresses rise through the first floor, where the schoolroom is lit by two-light windows in arched openings with carved hoodmoulds. To the south, a projecting stair tower has pairs of shouldered windows above a door in an arched surround. The roof above the schoolroom has a tall central lantern.

The northern wing contains the main entrance, housed in a moulded stone recess with an armorial panel above and an inscription reading "FOUNDED 1714 REBUILT 1857". In front of this is a short terrace with ornate iron railings and openings beneath which expose areas of surviving medieval masonry. The northern wing is of two and a half storeys, with a tiered bay window rising through two storeys and other windows of varying sizes. To the north, the remnants of the medieval tower can be seen at the lower level, with 19th-century rebuilding above culminating in two tall turrets. East of this is a section of wall which appears to be a survival of the medieval precinct wall to the priory. The rear of the building has a modern brick extension.

The main entrance opens into a small hallway with Minton-style tiled floor, which continues into the main hall adjacent. The two rooms on the ground floor of the tower retain simple fireplaces, skirting and cornicing, and the small hall has a door giving access to the spiral staircase of the medieval tower remains. The main hall has a large open-well stair with a closed-string balustrade of slender balusters and newel posts. The former open playground has exposed stone walls and hooks in the ceiling for swings. A door at its southern end accesses the smaller girls' stair which rises to the schoolroom above.

The schoolroom is a single large room open to the roof, supported on trusses with deep intersecting timbers and a central opening with the lantern above. There is a simple fireplace at each end of the schoolroom. The tower at this level has offices, with a dormitory to its uppermost level. Internal doors throughout the building have raised and fielded panels.

The basement of the main block, accessed underneath the main stair, contains the exposed remains of the west front of the former priory church. The deeply-moulded base of its facade and considerable medieval masonry can be seen.