Mary Ward Centre And Attached Railings

The Mary Ward Centre, originally a school for handicapped children and now a social centre, was built around 1903 by architects Arnold Dunbar Smith and Cecil Brewer for the Passmore Edwards Settlement, later known as the Mary Ward Settlement. The building is constructed of red brick and features a slated, hipped roof with dormers, following a rectangular plan with projecting wings on the main east facade, which faces a courtyard.

The exterior consists of two storeys and attics, with a total of eleven windows. There is a single storey entrance extension on Tavistock Place. The entrance facade has a slightly projecting bay with a bracketed hood above two-leaf doors. Above the hood is a lunette featuring a brick relief keystone and radiating strips. The bay is flanked by narrow, vertically set flush sashes with exposed boxing and brick sills. A stone-capped parapet sits above, from which the top storey of the school is set back, featuring three similar sashes under a modillion cornice.

The east facade of the school is symmetrical, with a central, slightly projecting brick porch that has a plain bracketed canopy over a recessed doorway. Above the canopy is a fanlight with radiating brick relief strips. The flush sashes have gauged brick flat arches and exposed boxing. Beneath the central sash on each wing, there are wooden doors with glazing bars that reach the level of the flanking windows' sills. A projecting stone modillion cornice enhances the design. The central dormer features a Palladian window type with the date 1903 displayed on an enriched, blind centre panel. The entrance extension includes two sashes and a stone-capped parapet, along with decorated lead rainwater heads.

The property also features attached cast-iron area railings, which consist of rectangular bars set diagonally with splayed tops and posts that are bent and riveted to form an arch.