Former National Schools, Crumlin Primary School, 27 Mill Road, Crumlin, Co Antrim, BT49 4XL

This is a red brick, single-storey gabled building originally constructed as a national school in 1909, designed by Belfast architect J. St J. Phillips and built by Messrs Law Bros of Lisburn. The school was officially opened in August 1909 by Mrs Harry Pakenham, and a gabled extension was added to the north end in 1916. The building stands within the built-up area of the village, set back from Mill Road on a slightly elevated site, and is fronted by a tarmac area and a modern red brick wall with iron railings. Immediately to the south is a former teacher's residence.

The original architecture has been significantly altered, resulting in the loss of many original exterior and interior features. The roof is gabled with Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, incorporating two modern metal cylindrical ventilators and terracotta ridge tiles with a terracotta finial to the front gable. Cast iron rainwater goods are present. The upper part of the gables have modern roughcast render which replaces original half-timbering, as documented in original drawings. Modern PVC windows, consisting of fixed lights with lower vents, have replaced the original timber windows. Sandstone cills are visible. The main entrance, facing west, features a modern flush timber door. Small, flat-roofed red brick additions have been constructed on the entrance elevation and to the north gable.

To the rear of the original building is a later post-war primary school composed of an asymmetrical arrangement of single-storey gabled and flat-roofed blocks constructed from rustic brick and prefabricated aluminium panels, with a two-storey entrance block. This later addition also includes a later entrance porch, an oriel window, cast iron rainwater goods, original rectangular metal casement windows set in continuous projecting concrete surrounds, original aluminium wall panels with angled flanges and glazing units, and a wing built in the 1980s in red brick.

References to the building’s construction and design can be found in the Irish Builder and Engineer (21 August 1909, p 533), and in Ministry of Finance file no. Co Antrim D: 79 located at MBR, Hill Street, Belfast, which contains original drawings for the 1916 gabled extension.