New City College, Tower Hamlets

New City College, located at 112 Poplar High Street in Tower Hamlets, is a building constructed in 1906 by W. E. Riley and the London County Council architects department. The college features an interesting elevation faced with Portland stone, originally built with six bays, three of which were added in 1931. The design incorporates a restrained use of Classical-Renaissance orders and ornamentation that highlights the functional aspects of the interior. This classical style is inspired by Norman Shaw but is more closely related to the works of Lethaby or Beresford Pite.

The building has two storeys, a basement, and a dormered slate mansard roof. The central group of first-floor windows is almost semi-circular and features finely dressed voussoir arches, supported by coupled engaged columns rising from a sill course. To the left of this group is a similar unframed arched window, which was originally above the left-hand entrance of the original east end bay but is now a window. The ground floor windows are plain, while the right-hand bay includes a flat arched first-floor window with a cornice on consoles. Below the main entrance is a rosette-studded gadrooned architrave with an overdoor light framed by intricately carved putti standing on dolphins, topped with a shallow cornice hood.

The three-bay east extension matches the original style, with ground floor windows that are consistent with those in the original section. The building is enclosed by square-section cast iron area railings, designed in panels with crow bracing and urn finials, articulated by Portland stone dies. New City College was purpose-built with a focus on training cadets for the Mercantile Marine, which was renamed the Merchant Navy in 1928, reflected in the maritime putti above the entrance.