Beethoven Street School

TQ 2482 NW 1900-/17/10146

BEETHOVEN STREET, W10 Beethoven Street School

II

London Board School. 1881. Brown stock brick with red brick dressing, with large sash windows throughout. Slate roof Symmetrical 'stripped Classical' style. Two ranges linked by large central hall. Range fronting Beethoven Street of two storeys, 6 windows either side of central projecting bay, 2 windows wide and pedimented with cupola on top. Cut and moulded red brick plaque surround with carved stone inset inscribed 'Beethoven Street School' matched on the other side with plaque: depicting letters 'LSB' against a background of naturalistic foliage. Hall: top-lit with wooden roof with wrought-iron ties. Wooden gallery at one end. Bronze plaque presented by William Reid Dick in 1935 depicting boys in a woodwork lesson with their teacher and inscribed: 'In the playshed of this school in September 1885, the first woodwork class in elementary schools in London was opened. The instructor was J .T Chenoweth. As the expenditure was illegal, it was disallowed and the class was temporarily suspended'. Single storey range of classrooms at rear, with tall stacks, gable ends with Venetian windows. HISTORICAL NOTE: Beethoven Street School was opened in 1881 to serve the community of the newly-built Queen's Park Estate. In 1885 the school made history by running the capital's first woodwork classes. After a brief period of suspension due to lack of funds, the course re-started with money provided by the City and Guilds Institute and was later taken up by the London School Board as a model for other schools.

Listing NGR: TQ2434482873