High School for Boys and Attached Forecourt Walls, Gate Piers and Railings is a Grade II listed building in the Plymouth local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 November 1998. School. 2 related planning applications.

High School for Boys and Attached Forecourt Walls, Gate Piers and Railings

WRENN ID
brooding-finial-bramble
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Plymouth
Constituency
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP: Luke Pollard (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
9 November 1998
Type
School
Address
High School for Boys and Attached Forecourt Walls, Gate Piers and Railings, Regent Street, City of Plymouth, PL4 8BQ
OS grid reference
SX 483 548
Coordinates
50.37358, -4.1337
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

High school for boys, built in 1894 and opened in 1897. It is constructed of limestone brought to course, with limestone dressings, brick window jambs and arches, and has steep slate roofs with moulded entablatures to the parapets. The parapets are set back between coped gables, flanked by tall brick stacks with moulded entablatures acting as acroteria. The building has a large U-shaped plan and an articulated front.

The external appearance is of three storeys over a basement, with a symmetrical six-bay front, featuring entrance bays on the left and right. The original windows remain, with larger windows being sashes with overlights. Original panelled doors are also present. The elevation features alternate gabled bays with a 1:2:2:3:2:2:1 window arrangement, with multiple windows grouped closely or in pairs, most having segmental heads. Round arches lead to ordered doorways in the gabled bays. A two-storey panel is on the upper floor of the entrance bays, and on the second floor of the third and fifth bays. Openings in the entrance bays are positioned mid-floor. Moulded impost strings are visible at doorways, along with a mid-floor string above the squat windows above the doorway. A moulded entablature is under the first-floor windows of the central five bays, with an inscription reading “SUTTON HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS” across the central three bays, and a mid-floor string between the upper floors in the central five bays. Other elevations share similar but generally simpler features.

The interior has not been inspected, but may be as unaltered as the exterior.

Attached limestone forecourt walls are surmounted by original wrought-iron railings with turned cast-iron finials. Short walls flank the entrance bridge, leading to square piers with moulded caps. Similar piers are used to divide bays along the front.

The design is distinguished, following the style used for London Board schools.

Local climate

High School for Boys and Attached Forecourt Walls, Gate Piers and Railings sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 77% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 9 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 92% of listed buildings. Of these, 3 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 16 transactions since 2004
  • Related listed building consents — 2 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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