Clarendon House Grammar School, groundskeepers' lodge, walls and railings

Secondary school with groundskeeper's lodge and perimeter walls built 1908–1909 to the designs of W. H. Robinson, architect to Kent Education Committee.

The buildings are constructed of red brick with Bath stone dressings and clay tile roofs.

The school follows a butterfly plan, positioned at the junction of Clarendon Gardens and Elms Avenue, with wings set at right angles to the north and south. The central portion consists of a bowed entrance vestibule with stairs above, leading to a double-height assembly hall and, via curved stairs, an upper-floor gallery. Above the central hall is the present library, formerly technical classrooms. The north and south wings contain classrooms and offices facing the street, accessed from inward-facing corridors, arranged over two storeys. The south wing has an additional lower level due to the sloping ground. Staircases occupy the ends of both wings.

The exterior presents a restrained, orderly neo-Georgian composition enriched by Edwardian Baroque details and generous use of Bath stone dressings. The principal elevations facing the junction consist of a central bowed entrance bay flanked by broad symmetrical gabled ranges. The entrance, forming a frontispiece to the gabled assembly hall range, has a stone door surround with Ionic columns supporting a pediment with dentilled cornice. The surround frames panelled oak double doors with a leaded fanlight. Above is a stone panel incorporating a heavily swagged oeil-de-boeuf window and a simple square sash; each level is divided by a stone plait band which continues across the whole façade. The central range is crowned by a pedimented cupola with a copper-clad dome. Either side of the stone entrance, the bowed profile continues in red brick, with keyed narrow sashes and oeil-de-boeuf windows above, capped by simple square sashes lighting the stairs. Beneath the sash immediately to the left of the entrance is a cast foundation plaque set in a stone surround, bearing the date of the school's opening (14 October 1909) and the names of the council dignitaries present at the ceremony.

The north and south ranges each have a central pair of recessed bays, with gable-fronted end bays stepping forward. Between the bays are towering chimney stacks combining stone and brick. The windows are all original timber sashes with multi-paned upper leaves, set under gauged brick heads, with arched heads incorporating keystones to the central windows of the end bays. The gable-fronted bays are framed by stone quoins and broken pediments with dentilled cornices.

The rear elevations are simpler. The stone plait bands between storeys continue, though otherwise stone dressings are reserved. Third-storey windows are introduced, with sashes either set immediately below eaves level or cutting through to create a half-dormer form. The ends of the ranges and the return bays facing the centre accommodate third-storey windows through a half-hipped roof form which raises the eaves level here. Keyed lunette windows feature on the ground floor of the rear elevations. The north range has a secondary entrance at the end with a stone surround, moulded hood and scroll motifs, originally for the County School for Boys when the ranges operated independently. A similar arrangement probably existed at the end of the south range, but a link block and bridge to the later gymnasium has replaced any trace of this. The north side also has a bridging structure linking the central hall to the corridor of the north wing. At ground-floor level, a 1950s kitchen block with a flat asphalt-covered roof and a run of casement windows is built against the end of the central range.

The interior arrangement of classrooms and offices along corridors leading from the central assembly hall remains largely unaltered. As archive photographs from around 1910 demonstrate, classrooms were simply furnished, and most original internal features remain. Fitted workbenches in the technical classrooms have been removed, though original skirting, dado and picture rails and part-glazed doors with brass furnishings are retained in the majority of rooms and corridors. Large multi-paned glazed screens to the corridors bring in borrowed light which, along with high ceilings, creates spacious and light classrooms. This is particularly evident in the upper-floor classrooms, which are open to the roof with trusses and iron tie-rods exposed. The stairs at the ends of the north and south range corridors have simple iron handrails. The workshops at basement level retain original fitted cupboards and part-glazed doors.

The assembly hall (also referred to as the dining hall) is a double-height rectangular space occupying the central range with a gallery at its west end. This is accessed by a curved dual staircase with original turned wooden handrails. The hall has parquet block flooring throughout, with an original low-set stage to the east with side stairs. Tall sash windows with moulded surrounds light the east end. To the west end and side walls are part-glazed double doors set within classical surrounds; that to the west is set beneath an original wall-mounted clock in a hardwood case, manufactured by Rose of Ramsgate. Giant Doric pilasters are interspersed between the end windows and entrance doors, rising through to the gallery at the west end. Skirting, dado rails and a continuous moulded cornice feature, along with three later fixed boards recording the names of former House Captains, Head and Deputy Head students. The stepped gallery is screened by a brass rail balustrade and accessed via part-glazed double doors from the stairs, with further original part-glazed doors set within moulded architraves leading to the side ranges to the north and south. A small ante-room to the upper gallery at the top of the stairs is flanked by a pair of offices, both with original part-glazed doors and multi-paned mottled glass screens.

The present library on the upper floor of the central range, converted from the technical workshops, has been modernised, although exposed original roof trusses and iron tie-rods have been retained. The northern pitch of the central range has two large inserted glazed sections. The single-storey 1950s kitchen block at the end of the central range has a quarry-tile floor and modern fittings and work surfaces.

The school is enclosed by low-set undulating red brick walls with cast-iron rails between stone-capped brick piers to the west. This section of walling terminates on the north and south sides with gate piers and metal gates (both are later replacements). The low-set northern wall is of flint capped with brick and a chain-link fence, with a further replacement gate set between piers to the east. The south retaining wall is of stock brick with banked supports and buttresses on the south side.

The contemporary single-storey groundskeeper's lodge, set to the south, follows the design of Robinson's main school building. The lodge has a C-plan form with a double-hipped roof. The principal north elevation has a central gable-fronted bay with stone quoins and a broken dentilled pediment incorporating a pair of sashes with keyed and gauged heads. Flanking the central gable are two dormer windows, the left one having been enlarged, cutting through the eaves course. Side ranges have further half-dormers which also break through the eaves course, although these are in their original form rather than the product of enlargement. The interior of the lodge was not inspected (2018).