Duke Of Kent School

The Duke of Kent School is a country house, built in 1885 by George and Peto for a member of the Doulton tile family. It is constructed of red brick with buff terracotta angle quoins and dressings, and has plain tiled roofs.

The building has a roughly L-shaped plan, with extensions to the rear, and is situated on a hilly site with a forecourt between the two ranges. It is two storeys high, with attics in the gables and a taller, three-stage tower at the rear angle. Decorative brick and terracotta ridge stacks, some with corbelled tops and terracotta bands, are present at the left end, centre, front right, and rear.

The main block features a triple-gabled section to the left of the re-entrant angle, with a three-light mullioned attic window in terracotta dressings to each gable. These windows are topped with finials and have a sill course. A three-light window is located on the right-hand gable of the first floor. A hip-roofed angle bay is positioned on the centre gable, and a large twelve-light hall/staircase window, in a terracotta surround, rises through the ground and first floors of the left-hand gable. A set-back range with two first-floor windows extends to the left, with a further window range set back again at the left end. Flat-roofed brick extensions, similarly staggered, run across the ground floor, featuring mullioned and transomed casement windows.

A double-gabled projecting wing is on the right, with an angle bay window rising through two storeys on the left gable end. Features include an under-eaves casement, two first-floor windows, and one ground-floor window. A pyramidal roof and upper arcaded stage of the tower are visible at the rear, where the ranges join, topped with a spiked weathervane finial. Flat-roofed brick extensions are located at the end of the right-hand projecting wing.

A brick, flat-roofed entrance porch, at the re-entrant angle, has an arched section that projects and steps up to a tiled roof. It has carved double doors.

The left return front has an angle bay oriel window on the first floor. The rear has a triple-gabled range with two-storied, hip-roofed angle bay windows. The tower is centrally located on a set-back range, with a pierced parapet to the flat-roofed projecting ground floor and a terracotta-clad hip-roofed oriel window on the second stage. 20th-century brick extensions project to the left, linking to a formerly freestanding, single-storey, hipped roof pavilion. This pavilion has a spherical finial to its roof apex, round arched, terracotta-dressed fenestration with a terracotta balustrade across the lower lights, and a panelled door in a columned surround, accessed by a flight of steps.

The interior features a panelled great hall with a staircase to the left. Two original bathrooms remain; the most notable is attached to the headmaster’s accommodation, decorated with blue/green tiles and a bath in an arched, tile-clad recess.