The Auction House

The Auction House is a former British School, dating from 1841, with later extensions added in the late 19th and 20th centuries. An architect is not recorded. The building is constructed of red brick laid in a rat-trap bond, with the front elevation painted; it has a slate roof. The windows are primarily cast iron, with timber sliding sashes to the rear extension.

The original building has a rectangular single-room plan, to which later extensions have been added to the front, side, and rear. The exterior is in a classical style, featuring a pitched roof and deep bracketed eaves to the front. The front elevation incorporates a blind arcade with impost moulding. The main entrance is obscured by a modern porch extension that runs along part of the north side. Above the entrance is a central cast-iron pivoting lunette window with diamond lattice glazing bars, set in a rendered surround with a moulded cill and apron. The side elevations have cast-iron framed windows with 18-over-18 square lights, the upper sections of which pivot. A late 19th- or early 20th-century extension is located at the rear, featuring timber sash windows. The north elevation has a blocked window and a subsequently blocked doorway.

Inside, the schoolroom has a timber king-post truss roof with a boarded soffit. The walls are brick, painted, and feature timber match-board dado panels. Window reveals are splayed. The rear gable has an off-centre cast-iron lunette window matching that on the front, but it is partially obscured externally by the extension.

A brick boundary wall, also in rat-trap bond, runs along the south side of the building.

The building's significance lies primarily in the original 1841 construction, which is a well-preserved example of a British School based on the Lancastrian model. The porch and side extensions are considered to have less significance.

The school was built in 1841 by Wokingham Baptist Sunday School, funded by subscriptions, to provide education for poor children of all denominations. The school followed the principles of the British and Foreign School Society (founded 1814), which was influenced by the educationist Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838). Lancaster’s system used ‘monitors’ – older children – to instruct younger pupils, with the teacher positioned on a raised platform. Ventilation, daylight and noise reduction were important design considerations, reflected in the open-truss roof and pivoting windows.