Arts Annexe Of East Devon College

Arts Annexe of East Devon College, Chapel Street, Tiverton

A college building originally constructed as a school in 1848, with a late 19th-century addition at the rear. The main structure is built of stone rubble with squared stone dressings; the rear addition employs red brick dressings. The lean-to at the rear of the front range is rendered. Cast-iron window sills feature throughout, and the building is roofed in slate with a rendered chimney on the lean-to behind the main range.

The plan comprises a broad front range, probably only one room deep, with an entrance porch at the left-hand end and a small low range to its left. A rear wing extends to the left, with an added building set at right angles to it at the far end.

The front range rises to two storeys; the remainder is single-storey. The front elevation displays four windows. The ground storey features tall windows with raised keystones and 12-paned sashes. A raised band marks the division between storeys. In the upper storey, the three left-hand windows extend to the eaves and contain 6-paned sashes, while the window on the right is shorter with a raised keystone and has an 8-paned lower sash beneath a 4-paned upper sash. The entrance is a gabled porch with a round-arched doorway topped by a raised keystone. The double doors consist of four-panelled leaves with a fanlight featuring radial glazing bars; matching inner doors and fanlight are visible within. To the right of the porch, the plinth carries two cast-iron ventilator grilles designed to resemble Vitruvian scrolls. The roof displays deeply projecting eaves-cornice; a ventilator with ogee top and finial sits to the left of the roof ridge. Each gable end contains a round-headed window with raised keystone and small-paned sashes.

The low range to the left of the entrance porch has one window at the front and one on its left side, both with raised keystones matching the main range; these contain 12-paned sashes, though the lower sash on the left side now has only a single horizontal glazing bar. The rear wing, visible on both sides from the street, features on its right side a triple-sashed window with small-paned glazing and a flat arch with raised keystone. Two similar windows appear on the left side. The added building at right angles to the wing has two tall windows with 2-paned sashes in its right-hand end wall; a lower building in front of it has a smaller window with 6-paned sashes. The rendered lean-to behind the front range contains ground and upper-storey windows in its right side wall, fitted with 2-light, 6-paned wood casements.

Between the two middle upper-storey windows of the front range is a stone plaque with segmental head, inscribed: "BREWIN SCHOOL, PRESENTED WITH ENDOWMENT TO THE TIVERTON SCHOOL BOARD A.D. 1877."

The building was originally known as Brewin School. According to White's Directory of Devonshire, it was "a large and handsome British School, in Elmore street, built in 1848 by Ambrose Brewin, Esq; and entirely supported by him, for the education of about 100 boys and 50 girls, under a master, mistress and six pupil teachers." Brewin was the partner of John Heathcoat; his wife Caroline was Heathcoat's youngest daughter. The cast-iron window sills are characteristic of Heathcoat's housing in West Exe and were probably manufactured in his foundry there. Elmore Street is the former name for Chapel Street.