Penfold House Folkestone School For Girls

Penfold House, originally Praetoria House, is a school building dating to 1904, designed in the Neo-Georgian style, and the architect is currently not known. Constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, it features a slate roof and brick chimneystacks. The building is arranged in a U-shaped plan, primarily two storeys high with attics, and has wooden sash windows throughout.

The main south-facing entrance front is 16 bays wide and set at right angles to the road. The central bays are topped by a mansard roof with a wide wooden eaves cornice and a central square cupola, which includes a clock face and a metal weathervane. Dormer windows are incorporated, including a central paired dormer inscribed with the virtues "SALUS DOCTRINA PIETAS." The wings on either end project five bays, each with roughcast pediments and pedimented dormers; central doorcases are present, with a projecting round-headed stone hood supported on brackets to the right and columns to the left. The original name, Praetoria House, is inscribed above the left-hand doorcase, above double doors. The east front, dated 1904 on a paired dormer, has two large Diocletian windows on the ground floor. Attached to the rear is a single-story gymnasium and assembly hall, distinguished by an open pediment and a large Venetian window. The west elevation is two and a half storeys to the south and one storey to the north, built in a similar style; a large four-light dormer with a curved pediment is set into the southern part, and a French window with side-lights and a wooden balcony is located on the first floor.

The interior retains original features, including a tiled floor and wooden seat in the entrance vestibule. The entrance hall features panelled doors, a curved staircase with turned balusters and tapering square newel posts with flat moulded caps, dado panelling, and a glazed fanlight to the ground floor corridor. The original classroom layout remains, with glazed screens to the corridors and continuing dado panelling. Ground floor classrooms have green glazed fireplaces, while upper floors retain narrow cast iron fireplaces ornamented with a design of three circles. An octagonal-shaped gallery with turned balusters on the first floor exists; however, it has been floored over for safety. The gymnasium/hall has cast iron brackets supporting the ceiling.

The building initially served as Praetoria House, a preparatory school. By 1921, it had transitioned into a county girls' school, later becoming Folkestone Grammar School for Girls, and currently functions as part of Folkestone School for Girls.

Penfold House is a well-executed Edwardian building in the Neo-Georgian style, retaining its original external appearance and internal layout, as well as numerous original fittings.