Cheltenham College (Main Block To Road With Dining Hall And Chapel)

Cheltenham College is a school complex in the Oxbridge Collegiate style, listed Grade II*. The main block fronting Bath Road was designed by J Wilson of Bath and built in 1843. Later additions to the east include the Dining Hall and Library, designed by DJ Humphris in 1858, which incorporated a former junior school of around 1850 by Middleton. The Chapel dates from 1896 and was designed by Prothero, with internal decorations executed by Boultons of Cheltenham. The stained glass was created by Louis Davis, Powell (1924), and Heaton, Butler and Bayne. Paintings were contributed by J Eadie Reid, and a monument was designed by HH Martyn and Company. A stone fan-vaulted passageway between the Main Block and Chapel was added around 1920 by LW Barnard.

The building is constructed of ashlar over brick with a slate roof and presents a notable composition in the Oxford Collegiate style.

The main front comprises a central two-storey, three-bay range with attics to the outer gables and a central tall clock tower, flanked by five-bay wings with aisles and clerestory on either side. The central entrance features massive double doors within triple-chamfered, four-centre-arched surrounds with carved spandrel decoration and a hoodmould with face-stops. Off-set buttresses separate the bays. The ground floor displays two plus two cusped lights in chamfered surrounds with hoodmoulds. On the first floor, the outer bays have canted oriels with traceried windows and surmounting battlements, while the centre has a three-light traceried window with hoodmould and face-stops. Cusped lights pierce the gables with copings and finials. The massive clock tower has outer octagonal piers and a central tall two-light belfry window with tracery, frieze, and battlements. The flanking wings have off-set buttresses between bays and end entrances of double pointed doors. Ground floor windows are two-light cusped; the clerestory has three-light straight-headed windows with tracery, all with chamfered surrounds and hoodmoulds. Low crenellated parapets run along the aisles and clerestory. A tall three-stage, twenty-seven-light window with perpendicular-type tracery appears on the left return.

The Chapel is in the Eton and King's Perpendicular style tradition, featuring stepped buttresses and a crenellated parapet with finials and corner pinnacles. Windows have four lights with one level of transoms, whilst the great nine-light east window features niched canopies on the flanking buttresses and up the voussoir. The entrance from the school is on the south side, leading into the chapel passage.

Internally, the entrance has a vaulted lobby with a four-centred arch to the stairhall with skylight. The open-well staircase has iron balusters with carved stone tread ends displaying cinquefoil decoration and cresting to the balustrade. The chapel passage has fan vaulting. The chapel interior retains a quadripartite rib-vaulted ceiling and a reredos designed by Prothero and executed by Boultons, featuring figures of notable men with local connections: Jenner, Tyndale, and Raikes. Carved canopies to the rear stalls are surmounted by four-centred lunettes, painted by Reid. A carved Perpendicular-style pulpit and sounding board are also present. A monument to Frederick Myers (died 1901) was designed by Prothero and carved by Martyns, featuring a tree of life and bronze relief portrait. Two stained glass windows are by Davis (south), one by Powell (north), and the east window is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. The quadrangle has a four-centre-arched loggia on its east side. The Dining Hall, formerly a chapel, has a panelled shallow vault on pilasters reaching full height, wall panelling to the lower stages, two tiers of stained glass windows, and a seven-light perpendicular-type window to the west, with a 1945 war memorial. The Assembly Hall, the former junior school, has a panelled ceiling and canted bay to the south.

Cheltenham College was the first of the new public schools, originating in 1841 on Rodney Road. These premises were built in the mid and late nineteenth century.