Corelli College (formerly Kidbrooke Comprehensive School for Girls)

Corelli College, formerly Kidbrooke Comprehensive School for Girls, is a comprehensive secondary school built between 1951 and 1954 for the London County Council. It was designed by Charles Pike of Slater, Moberley, Uren and Pike, with Ove Arup as structural consultants. The building has undergone some alterations in the 21st century.

The structure is a reinforced concrete frame with a shell concrete roof to the hall, covered in copper. The blocks feature yellow brick walling with additional cladding of shingles on the upper levels and tile, punctuated by large expanses of glazing to communal areas. The windows are a mix of original steel frames and later replacement uPVC frames.

The building is planned on a truncated H-shaped layout, dominated by three classroom blocks of three to four storeys. A central link block contains the library and staff room and faces onto Corelli Road with a double-height foyer and assembly hall. The former kitchen block forms a spur on the north side of the link block. The entrance and reception block faces east onto Corelli Road.

The entrance block features full-height glazing with a grey metal frame and glazed canopy over electronic sliding doors, replacing an original timber-framed version topped by an upswept canopy. A large original counterpoised open clock is retained in the brick panel to the south. Overhanging eaves are sheathed in copper, with original brick steps, paving and metal railings. The south elevation is two-storeys with a projecting upper storey on pilotis, retaining Canadian wood shingles though the original steel windows have been replaced in uPVC.

The assembly hall adjoins to the north, topped by a 76mm thick copper-sheathed concrete dome supported on corner columns. The east side walls are clad in original shingles at upper level, while the west side has replacement ribbed sheet metal cladding. Large glazing panels have been replaced with transoms added. Below is a brick gallery with replacement glazing. The east gallery glazing has been truncated with doors added at the north end.

The south classroom block has asymmetric facades with varied roof lines and heights between three and four storeys, with shingle cladding. An elliptical art studio crowns this block with a flat concrete roof and four rows of circular skylights. The former kitchen block has a concrete arched roof with three rows of circular skylights.

The spine block has fully glazed stairwells at both ends retaining original glazing. The ground floor, originally open and supported on concrete pillars, was later enclosed with glazed uPVC panels. The east side has a later single-storey glazed extension. The library and staff rooms have concrete balconies with metal railings, and a roof terrace features a flat-roofed pavilion with a crinkle-crankle timber screen.

Internally, the double-height entrance foyer has a single concrete balcony on the south side giving onto offices, with an original steel balustrade with timber handrail and angled timber struts. The gallery is accessed by cantilevered concrete stairs at either end with metal balusters and timber handrails. The east stair features timber edging to steps in a zig-zag effect while the west stair has timber treads. Round skylights illuminate the foyer.

Timber folding screen doors on the north side of the foyer provide access to the assembly hall, which has a stage at its north end and raised galleries on the east and west sides with oversailing concrete canopies. The gallery front of these canopies have metal balustrades with timber handrails and balusters featuring lozenge-shaped cut-outs. The stage front and gallery fronts are finished in beech and West African iroko woods. Original glazed doors with large steel handles flank the stage and gallery ends. The floor is Japanese Maple with a stepped suspended ceiling of fibrous plaster containing inset lighting.

The staff rooms and library retain their original layout and some fittings, though the staffroom's woodblock floor is a later replacement. Stairs in the spine block retain their panelled timber detailing. Server hatches from the kitchen remain, though the remainder of the former kitchen block interior has been altered. The classrooms have been subject to change, with large dual-purpose classrooms partitioned, though evidence of tracks for folding screens is visible. Most, if not all, have lost their hardwood block floors.

A notable feature throughout the interiors is the playful use of a lozenge motif in various elements including fixed benches and shelves in corridors, cut-outs on stair treads, in the soffits of foyer skylights, in the replacement lino floor design, and in the timber supports of the hall gallery balustrade.