Former Whitelands College

Former Whitelands College, Scott Avenue

Former teacher training college, converted to residential use in 2005. Built 1928–30 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in collaboration with the principal Miss Winifred Mercier. The structure is reinforced concrete clad in handmade red brick with hipped pantile roofs and brick and stone dressings.

The building follows a block plan integrating teaching and living accommodation in a single structure. The plan is symmetrical with a central axial corridor aligned with the chapel. The principal elevation faces south, presenting five storeys but terraced to appear as one, one, and three storeys. A central tower rises to the rear block. Forward wings to left and right terminate in five-storey blocks treated as pavilions and linked by terraces at two levels across the main elevation. Three-storey, three-bay wings project on the same plane to left and right, with further forward wings of similar proportions terminating the block. Two-storey elevations open onto internal wells between the terraces.

The outer angles of the end wings and of the central forward three bays feature banded rusticated brick quoins or bases, with similar detailing between the ground floor bays of the five-storey pavilions. The ground floor is treated as an arcade, with semicircular-headed French windows of timber with small panes and an enlivening motif to the transom in Cape Dutch manner.

Upper floors contain mainly timber small-paned sashes, though timber small-paned French windows open onto the terraces. The central tower has tripartite small-paned sashes, with upper windows beneath a sunk tympanum detailed in brickwork and beneath a loggia in Tuscan manner; the roof is surmounted by a finial. Upper storeys to left and right each feature four-bay loggias with stone-dressed brick piers supporting hipped roofs. Similar three-bay loggias to the fourth storey of the forward pavilions each support a stone entablature beneath a brick parapet with plain stone coping. The fifth storey, a three-by-three arrangement set back beneath a separate hipped roof surmounted by a finial, completes the composition. Pierced brickwork balustrades ornament the loggias and terraces. Ground floor windows to the inner wells have fanlights with radial glazing bars above French windows. Stone steps with brick and stone-dressed retaining walls descend to terraced lawns at the front.

The north elevation is mainly four storeys, with the central block set forward and featuring banded rusticated brick quoins and a stone band above a basement storey. The detailing parallels the south elevation but is plainer, with small-paned sashes. A central entrance beneath a canopy links to the chapel.

Interior: An axial corridor contains a dining hall and assembly hall with balconied stage to left and right. A central common room overlooks the south elevation and remains largely unaltered, including fireplaces with Dutch tiles. The library has been resited but its fittings have been reused, and some ornamental work has been retained. Most classrooms and lecture rooms on the south front are slightly altered. Much of the basic fitted furniture and gas fireplaces to student bedrooms remain in situ.