Numbers 5 And 7 And John Betts School

This is a charity school, now a primary school, built in 1859 and endowed by the John Betts Charity. Designed by George Burn, it was constructed to provide an infants' classroom, two large schoolrooms (one for boys, one for girls), several other classrooms, and two teachers’ houses, arranged around a courtyard and linked by a low wall and cast-iron railings. The building is in the Gothic style, built of stock brick with stone dressings and a slate roof with brick chimneystacks.

The central section is two storeys high, with three windows and three gables featuring louvred lancets. The first floor has three pointed-arched mullioned and transomed windows, while the ground floor has three four-light mullioned and transomed casements. To the right is a single-bay section with a steeply pitched lead roof, a stepped parapet and a large arched window bearing a foundation inscription. Asymmetrical wings are attached on either side, each featuring a three-bay colonnade with stepped parapets, pointed arches, and Tuscan columns. The right-hand wing has a large, gabled schoolroom with two pointed-light windows divided by a buttress. A cambered door is located to the rear of the colonnade. Adjoining this is Number 7, one of the teachers’ houses, which features a gabled dormer with a two-light mullioned and transomed window, and two similar three-light windows to the ground floor, set under relieving arches. A brick chimneystack with four octagonal terracotta chimneypots is at the gable end. Further features include kneelers and a three-light window, along with an arched doorcase. The left-hand wing contains the other teacher’s house, Number 5, which is two storeys high with two windows. It has two gables facing the street, each with three- and two-light mullioned and transomed casements. The ground floor has one three-light and one four-light mullioned and transomed window. A central stepped and gabled porch provides access.

An attached stock brick wall, approximately four feet high, has triangular brick coping and cast-iron railings with twisted uprights and alternate fleur de lys finials.

The interior retains original joinery, including classroom roofs, arched doors, dado panelling with diagonal struts, wooden fire surrounds (the one in Number 5 featuring octagonal end-turrets), and a cornice with ball decoration in Number 5.

The Betts Trust was created by Dr John Betts of Hammersmith for the Free School of St Peter's, intended for poor children of Protestant parents resident in Hammersmith and the surrounding parishes. Mandatory attendance at a local Protestant church was required every Sunday. The cost of the school buildings was £6000.