John Roan Girls School

The John Roan Girls School is a former school built in 1877-8 to designs by Thomas Dinwiddy, with later additions of 1906-7 by Alfred Roberts to the east and 1936-7 by Percy B Darnatt to the west. It is built of red brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The school comprises a central portion with link blocks and gabled wings. The central block, of two storeys, is topped by an octagonal bell-cote with a spire and metal weathervane. It has stone coping with kneelers, a brick Lombardic frieze, and a stone band displaying the words "ROAN GIRLS SCHOOL". The first floor features an elaborate four-light central bay with a dogtooth cornice, quatrefoil mullions, and engaged columns, flanked by trefoliated lancets. A stone band runs along the first floor. An arched doorcase has cable moulding and engaged columns. The ground floor has Caernarvon arched windows. Link blocks, two storeys high, adjoin each side, with Caernarvon arched windows: three windows to the left and two to the right. The left gable has stone coping, a first-floor three-light window with quatrefoil, and a ground-floor four-light mullioned and transomed window. The right gable mirrors the left and also includes the foundation stone. An extension from 1906-7, by Alfred Roberts, is attached to the right, constructed of red brick with three sash windows. A further extension, also from 1906-7, is at the rear, in red brick with a flat roof, cast iron balustrading and piers. It has sash windows, some cambered on the ground floor, with buttresses in between. A 1936-7 extension by Percy B Darnatt is attached to the left, built of red brick in Flemish bond, with a mansard slate roof. It has five metal casement windows and some four-light windows with ogee heads and cinquefoil mouldings. A red brick wall runs in front, punctuated by seven octagonal brick and stone gatepiers with trefoil ornament, pointed caps and cable moulding. John Roan schools have existed in Greenwich since 1677, and this is the most elaborate of the two surviving Roan schools, for boys and girls. They were among the earliest purpose-built secondary schools in South East London, constructed on the Prussian System.