Glengormley Primary School, 166 Church Road, Glengormley, Co Antrim, BT37 6HJ

Glengormley Primary School is a detached inter-war brick primary school built in 1935 and located on the south side of Church Road in Glengormley Village. It was designed by Ferguson McIlveen, built by W. Logan & Sons of Belfast, and constructed for 400 pupils. The school represents the developing urban profile of Glengormley at this time and presents an early example of innovative mid-century educational reform approaches to school design. However, it has been compromised by the replacement of its original windows, which were the principal stylistic feature, and it is not considered an outstanding example of the type.

The building is a multi-bay two-storey brick structure with a symmetrical arrangement. At the front is a double-height central hall flanked by taller two-storey square-plan wings slightly set back. At the rear stands a rectangular two-storey classroom block linked to the front section by two-storey corridors. A central courtyard is partially infilled with a single-storey flat-roofed block. A modern single-storey flat-roofed extension extends to the east, and an additional wing built circa 1960 extends to the west, linked by corridor.

Roofs are of hipped artificial slate with half-round ridge and hip tiles. The front block has an external dormer access hatch at the rear, while the rear block features a central copper clock tower. Deep overhanging timber-sheeted eaves and half-round cast-iron rainwater goods with square hopper heads bearing raised dates reading '1935' characterise the building.

Walling is Flemish-bonded brown brick over a projecting plinth with chamfered cast-concrete coping and a soldier-coursed eaves band. Windows are uPVC replacements variously divided into large panes, with splayed brick voussoirs to the ground floor and soldier-coursed heads to the first floor, finished with concrete sills. The principal elevation faces north.

The hall block is three windows wide. Each window has a cast-concrete apron panel and is flanked by a shallow projecting three-quarter height pier with a geometric cast-concrete head. Twin flat-roofed porches project from the abutting planes of the wings and hall blocks, each with a double-leaf three-panelled door and transom light set within a stepped cast-concrete surround and accessed by two concrete steps with raised string walls.

The side elevations are identical except for later extensions. Each consists of a flanking wing to the north, the outer elevation of the linking corridor, and the side elevation of the south (rear) block. The flanking wings have three windows to each floor, with the central window being wider. Linking corridors are glazed to each side at first-floor level and partially glazed to ground floor. The east corridor is abutted by a large flat-roofed extension.

The rear block is symmetrical and faces south, with each floor divided into four sets of three windows arranged about two full-height vertical concrete surrounds framing glazed stairwell windows. Upper and half-landing windows are divided by a frieze with triglyph detail. The ground floor contains two small toilet windows set in a concrete panel and surmounted by a plain concrete canopy on scrolled brackets. Side elevations are each abutted by a flat-roofed projecting porch with a single first-floor window. The east porch remains in original form with double-leaf timber doors set in a cast-concrete surround with affixed lettering reading 'BOYS'. The west porch is now extended by a linking corridor to the 1960s extension. The north elevation overlooks the courtyard and is abutted by linking corridors and the single-storey central block, with access to open courtyard areas via double-leaf timber-panelled doors. The exposed first-floor section is lit by equally spaced windows. The central block is lit by a continuous row of metal-framed windows to each side.

The east wing corridor contains a notable limestone Gothic lancet trefoiled window head with voussoirs, each voussoir inscribed with a letter spelling 'Carnmoney', with 'National School' carved to the lower section.

The building is set parallel to the road and fronted by a tarmac parking area bounded by painted steel railings on brick piers and a plinth wall. A tarmac playground extends to the south.

The construction of the school in 1935 followed the legislative framework provided by the 1923 Education Act, which transferred elementary and secondary schools to the control of local education authorities and provided for the building of new schools by those authorities. This legislation saw a significant rise in school attendance from the mid-1920s onwards, creating increased demand for new school buildings.