Wellington College, Main blocks and front walls

Wellington College, Main blocks and front walls

This college, built between 1856 and 1859 by John Shaw, was designed in the French Renaissance style, drawing inspiration from Christopher Wren's work at Hampton Court. It was extended in the late 19th century. The building was erected by public subscription as a school for orphans of military officers, with Prince Albert taking a close personal interest in the development and selecting one of the subjects for the military sculptures by Theed that adorn the structure.

The college is constructed of red and purple brick laid in Flemish bond with Bath Stone dressings. The roofs are steeply pitched slate mansards. The plan comprises two formal square cloistered courtyards arranged one behind the other, separated by the Old Hall block, with wings positioned at the north and south angles. The chapel adjoins the south-east corner, with further extensions to the east and west.

The exterior is predominantly two storeys with attics, though parts comprise two storeys with mezzanine and attics, and some sections are single storey. The east and west ranges rise higher than the north and south ranges. The building features several very tall chimneys with corniced heads, a projecting moulded plinth, string courses, and a bold modillion eaves cornice. Pedimented dormers and sash windows with glazing bars punctuate the elevations.

The symmetrical north entrance front rises two storeys and attics, with a centre section of eight bays containing a two-storey central feature framed by a giant Ionic order. This feature houses a carriageway and is crowned with a cornice and pediment bearing a decorated tympanum and carved spandrels. Eight dormers light the attic storey. Windows on both floors have segmental heads with keystones and drip moulds. A central clock tower with a serpentine pediment, cornice and bell turret surmounts the centre. The turret is topped with an ogee cupola and weathervane. On either side of the centre section are three-bay ends of the side wings, each featuring a recessed, round-arched first-floor centre window flanked by niches containing bronze military statues by Theed. The side wings extend back to the south as two-storey structures with mezzanine and attics, comprising 32 bays. Centrally placed towers of six storeys rise from these wings, topped with high rounded mansard roofs, turrets and urn finials.

The front walls adjoining the side wings on the entrance front are constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with stone plinth, cornice and coping. Stone buttresses with ball finial tops and urns at the ends support the walls. The left wall comprises ten bays with a single-bay return to the main block. In the sixth bay is a gate with a stone semicircular head, pilasters with moulded head and base, and a cornice and pediment bearing a cartouche in the tympanum. A pair of large panelled gates with metal twisted balusters stands here, with a smaller panelled door in the fourth bay. The right wall is similar but measures seven and a half bays, with a gate positioned in the fifth bay.

The south front echoes the north front but features an Old Hall centre section of one storey with oculus windows in a clerestory and round-headed roof dormers. On either side of the ends of the side wings are four-bay cloisters linking two pavilions: the former infirmary on the west and the former chapel on the east. Each pavilion is a single bay with a central two-light round-headed window and a circular light above, slightly recessed within an opening with a segmental head and keystone. The Great School, a cross wing positioned between the courtyards, is single storey and symmetrical. Its north front contains 11 bays of windows and cloisters that return on both ends to the side wings of the main blocks and the north side of the front section. A large, centrally positioned round-arched entrance with cornice, pediment and engaged columns marks the main access. Oculus windows in the clerestory and small round-headed roof dormers provide light.

The interior of the entrance features a semicircular pedimented entrance lobby with painted wall panelling and moulded cornice. Exposed queen post roof trusses are braced to the upper purlins with struts to the principal rafters. The collars, upper purlins and wallplates are decorated with egg and dart mouldings. Drop moulded finials hang below each queen post. A stone fireplace occupies the west end.

The Old Hall interior is similar to the Great School but features 20th-century wooden panelling with pilasters of the Ionic order and a dentilled cornice. A hexagonal lantern occupies the centre of the roof.