Oxford Road Primary School

Oxford Road Primary School

A board school built between 1880 and 1883 by the architects Morris and Stallwood, with extensions added in 1894 by Stallwood. The school consists of two buildings, later linked by a corridor. It is constructed of red brick with red brick and tile dressings, tile roofs and ridge cresting.

The Infant and Nursery Block

The infant and nursery block contains staff room and offices, arranged on an asymmetrical plan. A one and a half storey gabled wing to the left houses two classrooms and is set forward of a single storey hall and schoolroom. To the right stands a three stage stair tower, with a two and a half storey gabled wing beyond it, flush with the tower, which possibly housed the headteacher's accommodation, first floor staff room and classrooms. The entrance to the tower is formed by a pointed arch under a single continuous brick hoodmould, with a vertically boarded door. The tower has a slightly splayed tile roof topped by a finial.

Windows throughout are small paned timber casements and fixed lights. Those to the left wing and upper floor of the right wing sit in rectangular openings, while ground and first floor windows of the right wing are set under cambered arches. The hall and schoolroom features a pair of three by three light windows under an overlight with shaped head, flanked by tile hung panels within a slightly pointed reveal, each under a gable with moulded brick face and drip mould. To the right is a pair of rectangular windows. A dormer to the hall, almost equilateral in shape and slightly splayed, contains two light small paned casements in a rendered face, set below a tile hung gablet. A similar dormer appears on the left return. A small tile hung lantern with timber frame supports a pitched tile roof with cresting and small finial. Slender brick ridge stacks run across, with that to the right reduced. Gables to the wings are tile hung with pronounced tile drip mould. Continuous slender moulded brick storey and cill bands run along the right hand wing and tower.

To the rear, the two and a half storey left wing has small paned rectangular windows, with central windows set under flush cambered relieving arches. The hall and schoolroom displays a tall central gabled window flanked by near rectangular windows. Pair of gabled wings, diminishing in size, each have small paned windows under hood moulds, with an altered doorway to the left wing. All wings have moulded brick cornices and kneelers.

Interior of Infant and Nursery Block

The original schoolroom retains a sliding partition, with the left wing preserving the upper section of a former partition. Two pairs of former possibly external glazed doors remain. Most rooms retain chimneypieces of two models: an earlier form with shouldered architrave and a later form with splayed architrave. Most also retain chimney breast ventilation grilles. The staff room chimneypiece of the later model retains a cast iron grate. Roofs with exposed trusses remain, now covered by suspended ceilings. Doors are vertically boarded with shaped heads and ornate strap hinges and handles. The tower stair features square newels with ball finials and moulded drop finials, with stick balusters and rounded rail.

The Junior Block

The junior block consists of two parallel two storey ranges housing rear halls with classrooms to the south. On the roadside elevation, three gabled bays are flanked by a pitched roofed bay to the left and a lower bay of two and a half storeys to the right, which has a gabled return and a gabletted full dormer to the front. The gabled bays are symmetrical, with the central bay featuring tripartite windows, and the outer bays having two windows, all set between pilaster strips. Windows are small paned timber casements or fixed lights. The upper floor of the gabled bays contains pointed arched windows under slender continuous hoodmoulds, with small gable lights similarly treated. The left hand bay features a wavy hoodmould over its ground floor windows. A plain pointed arched doorway appears in the right hand bay. Continuous cill and storey bands with moulded brick eaves and kneelers run across all elevations. To the left return, an offset stack rises from the first floor against the rear pitch of the roof, flanked by windows.

The rear hall range sits under a separate pitched roof. It is two storeys tall with eight symmetrical bays. Two tall central first floor gabled windows are flanked by near rectangular windows, with ground floor windows below set under a raised shaped hoodmould. A slender gable stack rises from this range, with reduced stacks between the ranges. A reduced octagonal lantern sits on a splayed rectangular tile hung base.

Interior of Junior Block

Each of the eight bay halls contains two chimneypieces, with the upper hall now subdivided. Classrooms each have an angle chimneypiece, mostly with ventilation grilles. Classroom chimneypieces have shouldered architraves, while hall chimneypieces have splayed architraves. All rooms have suspended ceilings beneath roofs with exposed trusses. Doors are vertically boarded with shaped heads and ornate strap hinges and handles, with some part glazed panelled doors also present.

Link and Setting

A three bay corridor with an exposed trussed roof links the two buildings.

An attached perimeter wall and railings border the Oxford Road elevation. These comprise a brick parapet wall and square piers with facetted caps. Cast iron railings and gates consist of paired shafts with trefoil heads above small quatrefoil panels, alternating with rectangular panels featuring spirals.

Historical Significance

Oxford Road Primary School forms an impressive group of buildings set behind contemporary wall and railings. Built in 1880 to 1883 by Morris and Stallwood, with extensions by Stallwood in 1894, the buildings form a homogenous architectural group and a fine example of educational history. The architects were among Reading's most successful practitioners and accomplished builders of schools, combining current thinking in education and social reform with architectural skill. Of all the later nineteenth century schools in Reading, this is one of the most intact and architecturally inspired. In educational terms it comes after the first wave of post-1870 schools such as Coley and Katesgrove, and demonstrates considerable advances in school design for its date. The traditional schoolroom is replaced by the hall with classrooms off it, and rooms are becoming more adaptable, larger and lighter. The school is listed for its combined architectural and historical importance.