Fitzjohn's Primary School

Fitzjohn's Primary School

This is a primary school built between 1856 and 1858 by William Munt as the school house and teachers' accommodation for the Soldiers' Daughters' Home, a military orphanage founded in 1855 by Major Powys. The building was opened by Prince Albert in June 1858. The premises were taken over by the present primary school around 1954.

The building is constructed of Kentish rag with Bath stone dressings and a tiled roof. It comprises a rectangular main block with a gabled extension to the rear, a tower at the north-west corner, and an attached three-storey administrative block to the south. The site falls away to the east.

The main block is double-height over extensive cellars. The five-bay front features buttresses and a central canted bay. To the left stands a two-storey tower with a broached spire and an entrance porch at ground floor level with a two-light window above. To the right is another entrance porch reached via a flight of steps, sheltered beneath a shallow arch beneath a pedimental parapet.

Windows throughout feature trefoil-headed lights set within stone surrounds and mullions. Those on the administrative block retain their ornamental cast iron glazing bars and leading, while those on the main block are largely plain-glazed. The building displays a modillion cornice to the eaves and tower.

The administrative block features an openwork parapet and is accessed via stairs. It has twin-light windows to each floor. The basement windows are plain rectangular; the raised ground floor has two-light windows with straight moulded frames; the upper floor features trefoil-headed windows within arched surrounds. The flank elevation of the administrative block has a pair of projecting chimney breasts with single-light windows to the centre.

The rear elevation is raised on an arcaded undercroft with a projecting central range with corner buttresses. It includes a five-light window to the gabled east end and three-light windows to the sides. A modern extension in the south-east angle has inserted velux lights. A five-light window appears to the south end of the main block.

The north flank elevation has a three-light window to the gabled eastern section, paired lights to the ground floor centre, and two single-light windows to the upper section behind. The tower features slatted belfry openings.

The interior retains impressive features. The main school room, now subdivided, has an elaborate open scissor-trussed roof springing from moulded corbels. Two subsidiary classrooms also have scissor-trussed roofs. Deal boarding runs to the lower walls. The administrative block retains its original staircase, joinery, and chimney-pieces to all rooms.

William Munt, the architect, specialised in hotels and military buildings. He also designed the Grenadier Guards Hospital at Rochester Row, Westminster (1859). This building is a good example of Gothic Revival school design and represents an interesting philanthropic venture, with the residential block of the original orphanage (now demolished) having stood to the east.