6, Bolt Court

Former School of Illustrated Printing (Central London Institute), now Adult Education Centre

Built in 1912 by the London County Council Architect W. E. Riley, this four-storey building with attics and basement is located on the north side of Bolt Court in the City of London. Bolt Court is part of a network of alleys and courts north of Fleet Street, reflecting the medieval urban form of the City of London. The building was constructed in response to the concentration of newspaper offices along Fleet Street in the early 20th century, serving as a Technical School for printing operations with a speciality in illustrative techniques.

The structure is built of dark red brick laid in English Bond with stucco dressings, and features a tiled roof with two levels of dormers. The L-shaped plan incorporates a stair in the left corner providing access to two main classrooms on each floor. The interior uses a part-framed structure with cased columns and girders.

The five-bay main facade is designed in the William and Mary style of the late 17th century, with a taller single bay containing the stair at the left. The irregular spacing of bays runs 1 : 2 : 2 from left to right. The ground floor has a central entrance positioned above stone steps that bridge the front basement area. Twin leaf hardwood doors, each with three raised and fielded panels and a fanlight above, are framed by moulded architraves and topped by a carved and moulded shell door hood carried on foliated consoles. Small-paned metal casement windows sit in mullion and transom hardwood frames, with rubbed brick arches above and stucco keystones. Those on the ground floor are tied into a stucco band above. A brick plat band runs above the second floor windows, while a moulded stucco cornice sits above the third floor windows. The left-hand stair bay has larger windows, three lights wide by three lights high, with triple keystones; a bullseye light illuminates the top storey tank room. Iron railings with scrollwork flank the entrance, set on a Portland stone curb around the basement area perimeter, which is lined with light-green glazed brick.

Interior Features

The ground floor lobby and entrance hall feature shallow quadripartite plaster vaulted ceilings and segmental arches, with wood-panelled walls at full height. Half-glazed doors provide access to the former principal's office and general office, whilst a glazed screen with sash windows serves the enquiry office. The floors are laid in brown and buff ceramic tiles in cross and chequer pattern. A staircase to the basement has an open well, hardwood construction, newels, closed string, column-on-bobbin balusters, a moulded handrail with moulded newel caps, and a panelled dado beneath a segmental plaster vault.

A corridor running through the building to the main stair has similar finishes to the entrance hall and features a half-glazed wood screen and doors to the stair. The main staircase has stone treads with hardwood facings on case carriage beams, iron balusters in a stick and twist pattern, and a moulded hardwood handrail ramped at each floor. A tiled dado with hardwood moulding above runs along the walls.

Lecture rooms and classrooms generally feature wood block floors, tiled dados, and cased-beamed ceilings. The typical arrangement comprises one main classroom at the front and one at the rear, some with small individual craft or preparation rooms. On the third floor, the front classroom is spanned by portal frames—one arched and one cranked—with continuous glazing at the rear (north) and a sloping patent-glazed rooflight above. The fourth floor contains the former caretaker's flat, now offices, fitted with two-panelled doors, fireplaces with wood surrounds, and Dutch-tiled surrounds to cast-iron grates.