Dulwich College Preparatory School And Attached Balustrade

The building is a preparatory school, constructed between 1862 and 1884 by Charles Barry Junior, originally for the solicitor of the Dulwich College Estates and now serving as Dulwich College Preparatory School. It is built of brick in Flemish bond with stone dressings and has a slate mansard roof.

The school is roughly rectangular in plan. The south-facing garden elevation has a five-window range, with the end sections designed as slightly projecting pavilions. The basement is rusticated with a stone plinth to the ground-floor on all elevations. The end ranges feature flat-arched tripartite windows with cornices and architraves. The central windows are flat-arched, set in round-arched recesses with a springing band; the tympanum of each is decorated with a shell motif, and each has a historiated keystone. A sill band runs along the first-floor windows, which are also flat-arched with shouldered and eared architraves. The building is finished with an entablature and cornice on all elevations. Three pedimented dormers with shouldered architraves are symmetrically arranged.

The right return elevation has a double-height, round-arched stair window, with chimney breasts to either side. A segmental-arched entrance is centrally positioned. The left return has a two-window range, with flat-arched windows, those on the ground floor having architraves. The entrance elevation, on the right side, sets back to form a simpler wing with a chimney breast. The main section presents a three-window range, symmetrical around a single-storey entrance porch with coupled Tuscan corner pilasters. The spandrels of the round-arched door are ornamented with shields set in acanthus scrolls, and the keystone is carved as a bearded man. Sill bands run to first-floor windows which are similar to those on the garden elevation. Three dormers mirror those on the garden elevation.

Inside, a south-facing room on the ground floor retains its original cornice and fire surround, and cornice moulding is present in the hall and other rooms. The staircase has a wreathed handrail with a curtail step and turned spindles. A unique feature is a concrete crawlspace, constructed during WWII when the building was used by the army; this provided access from the east side of the basement to the basement of a house to the east.

A balustrade runs along the parapet of the entrance elevation.