Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre

Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre (formerly Hugh Myddelton Schools) is a school building designed by T.J. Bailey for the London School Board and dated 1892, as shown in a panel at the fourth-floor level at the south-east corner. It is constructed of yellow brick set in Flemish bond with dressings of red brick and stone, terracotta, and a tiled roof.

The building is three to four storeys over a basement with an eighteen-window range to the south. It adopts an H-shaped plan, with two long wings running north and south and a central hall block between them.

The south front features corner towers at either end, each four storeys high and three windows wide, which read as towers in relation to the three-storey centre section. The central facade is divided into four bays of three-window ranges by buttresses. The ground and first floors have flat-arched windows with heads of gauged red brick and general red brick dressings; one of these ground-floor windows now serves as an entrance. A sill band marks the third floor, above which the walls are covered with buff terracotta; the windows here are segmental-arched with chamfered reveals and moulded heads. Between the wings, the middle window of each triplet is raised under a small gable. A parapet links to a storey band on the fourth floor of the wings, which feature decorative stone panels to their south face and four segmental-arched windows to their east and west returns. The wings have tall hipped roofs with gablets and metal weather vanes to the ridge; the pitched roof between them contains ridge stacks.

The east and west fronts have recessed centres faced with terracotta, containing three segmental-arched openings that frame the ground- and first-floor windows. Flat-arched mullioned windows occupy the floors above. These fronts feature a stepped parapet and pedimented dormer. Separate entrances for Girls, Infants and Boys are located in the side wings, each with a flat arch and concave mouldings to stone surrounds.

The north front follows the detailing of the south in its four central bays. The outer bays comprise a four-window range without hipped towers but with five-sided staircase towers to the east and west; these staircase towers have lead-covered ogee roofs, ball finials and pennants.

The interior appears little altered in plan. A central hall extends through three floors with classrooms opening from the south side. To the north is an aisle of seven bays with additional classrooms beyond. Staircases and toilets are positioned in the corner wings.

At ground and first-floor levels, the hall is defined by brick piers carrying composite iron beams and round arches between them. The northern aisle is vaulted with very shallow saucer domes. Classrooms have windows and glazed and panelled screens opening onto the hall or aisle; the dado of all classrooms is finished with green glazed tiles, in many cases still exposed, and wrought-iron beams support the ceiling. The first-floor hall retains its original fitted and panelled bench to the east end.

The second-floor hall features a panelled and toplit mansard roof over a coved cornice and piers, supported by elaborate metal trusses spanning the seven bays. This room was used as a gymnasium. The classroom roofs are of timber with arched braces.