Former Falmouth Boys Grammar School and annexe

Former Falmouth Boys Grammar School and Annexe

A former boys grammar school and annexe, built between 1913 and 1915 and designed by Sampson Hill. The building was later used as an Adult Education Centre and is now a hub for local council services.

The main building is constructed from pink rock-faced granite elvan from Tremore quarry near Bodmin, with grey granite ashlar dressings and Delabole slate roofs. The internal structure employs reinforced concrete for floors, ceilings and staircases.

The main building follows an inverted T-plan orientated facing south-east, two storeys high with an additional two-storey block in the northern angle. Single-storey entrance blocks flank the principal front to left and right, with a further single-storey block to the west. A central longitudinal corridor runs through the building with staircases at each end, and an assembly hall sits to its north.

The exterior of the main building features a hipped roof with stone chimney stacks to the rear and a deep eaves cornice. A central octagonal cupola sits atop, with a copper ogee roof, louvred timber sides below open pediments, and a square copper-faced base. On the north-east elevation, the chimneybreast is expressed externally and decorated with two carved grey granite offset blocks with scroll mouldings.

The principal elevation is symmetrical and composed of three bays, with the central bay slightly projecting. The left and right bays each contain three 24-pane sash windows on ground and first floors. The central bay has a pair of 18-pane sash windows flanked by narrower 12-pane sash windows on each floor. The central bay breaks through the eaves cornice and is topped by an open pediment containing the carved date 1914, the Duchy of Cornwall shield and the words GRAMMAR SCHOOL, all in grey granite. At the building's base is a pink granite plinth with grey granite quoins rising to a grey granite plinth band. Windows feature plain grey granite dressings, with pedimented drip-moulds to the ground-floor windows in the outer bays. Set-back single-storey flat-roofed wings flank the principal elevation, each topped by a half-octagon bay. Each wing has a grey granite ashlar entrance bay above granite steps, with the doorway recessed; the left doorway is filled and has a late 20th-century door.

The rear elevation comprises three elements. The centre projects as a half-hexagonal two-storey bay housing the assembly hall, with 24-pane sash windows to the ground floor, recessed grey-granite panels above, and top-hung casement windows to the first floor. A late 20th-century door half-fills one ground-floor window. The two-storey wing to the left has symmetrical fenestration with three 24-pane sash windows flanked by a pair of narrower 12-pane sash windows on the ground floor, and a large four-bay window with top-opening casements flanked by 18-pane sash windows above. Half of one ground-floor window is filled with a late 20th-century door. To the right is a single-storey flat-roofed wing, five bays wide, with four bays of 24-pane sashes and a late 20th-century door with a 12-pane over-light. All windows have plain grey granite dressings. Cast-iron downpipes with hoppers survive throughout.

The principal interior access is through the right-hand entrance bay on the main elevation, leading into a small lobby with lavatories, storage and staff rooms ahead and an office to the right. The longitudinal corridor to the left features a herringbone woodblock floor. Three classrooms open from the south-east side of the corridor, while the north-west side is divided by a glazed timber screen with two sets of double doors leading to the assembly hall. One set is framed and glazed above vertical boarding; the other is a late 20th-century replacement with blocked glazing above on the corridor screen. The assembly hall is four bays long, defined by pilasters with simply-moulded bases sitting on a dado of vertical boarding set within framed panels. A small stage with short flights of steps occupies the south-east end, its front treated in the same manner as the dado. Timber pilasters with simply-panelled detailing and mouldings flank the stage. The north-east side of the hall contains a pair of timber glazed screens with partly-glazed doors and vertical boarding below, leading to two storerooms. The floor is laid in herringbone woodblock, with all joinery in red deal and unpainted. A glazed corridor screen behind the stage is blocked with an inserted framed panel. The west end of the ground floor contains further offices, classrooms and storage. Open-newel staircases at each end of the corridor have terrazzo flooring at their base, chunky moulded red deal newel posts and decorative wrought-iron balustrades. The stairs themselves are polished concrete, reflecting their reinforced construction.

The first floor has a further longitudinal corridor with a woodblock floor, classrooms on the south-east side and a glazed screen on the north-west side of the same design as the ground floor. This screen originally lit the double-height assembly hall but now divides the corridor from further classrooms. Late 20th-century fire doors and screens have been inserted in various locations throughout the building. Where original internal doors survive, they are timber-panelled in the same manner as the assembly hall dado and fitted with brass door furniture.

The annexe is a two-storey building, five bays north to south, faced in rock-faced pink elvan with plain grey granite dressings and a Delabole slate roof with a single stone stack. The main elevation faces north-east and comprises a three-bay central section with paired central windows rising to a pediment that breaks through the eaves. The roof is hipped and carries two wrought-iron finials to the ridge. The pediment is carved with the Duchy of Cornwall arms in grey granite. Recessed wings with pitched roofs flank the central section, with an entrance in the left wing. Cast-iron downpipes with hoppers survive. The ground-floor windows are blocked, and one has been replaced with a late 20th-century door. The interior of the annexe is not documented.