Westcott Infant School

SU 86 NW 1886/10/10010

WOKINGHAM GOODCHILD ROAD Wescott Infant School

GV II

Alternatively known as: SCHOOL ROAD (west side). School, with two play-ground shelters. Opened 1906; later C20 alterations. By Edmund Fisher (London). Red brick in English bond with pebble-dash render; plain tile roof with corniced brick stacks. 1 storey with partial 2nd floor and cellar. H plan, having 4 parallel gabled ranges with transverse roof at centre, presenting 4 x 4-bay elevations. In Arts and Crafts style, having: plinth; wide corner pilasters with deep dentilled cornices; side-bays defined by quoined brick strips; half-glazed doors with glazing bars below fanlights with radial glazing bars; wooden windows with architraves and sashes of 12, 15, or 18 panes, and some large mullion-and-transom windows of paired or tripled sashes with 9-pane windows over; some oculi with radial glazing bars and keyed brick architraves; tile cill strings; moulded barge-boards; flat-roofed dormers with 2-light, 12-pane windows. Principal (south-east) elevation: outer bays each have 3 windows with oculus over and porch to inner return with entrance to return and small side-window; inner bays have 3 windows, larger at centre, and at roof-crossing over each is a louvred wooden cupola with leaded dome and ball finial. 3 chimneys to right side, one to left side, and one between left-hand bays. Rear similar, the outer bays with cambered brick arches to ground-floor windows, the left bay masked by flat-roofed single-storey addition, and with Ipswich window to gable. At centre, narrow window below gabled tile-hung bellcote on shaped wooden brackets with small bell. Returns each have two central gabled bays with larger, transomed, windows flanked by narrow windows. Interior: light and airy. At the centre, there were originally movable partitions to allow use either as class-room or as a larger hall (now used as dining hall). Many of the original fittings remain, including part-glazed doors; part-glazed partitions in central area; parquet floors; class-room cupboards (some doors removed) and wall-mounted black-boards with side-cupboards; old radiators; dog-leg stair up to 2nd-floor room; fireplace with decorative metal grate in this room and to present staff-room. In playground to rear are two contemporary shelters: red brick in Flemish bond with 1940s pink-brick sections at sides of front wall; mono-pitch roofs with corrugated sheeting. Each 1 storey, 6 bays. Open-fronted having timber posts on chamfered padstones and arch braces to wall-plate. Inside each is a bracketed wooden bench along rear wall. A well-designed and executed early-C20 school in the Arts and Crafts style.

Listing NGR: SU8164268575