Cliftonville Primary School, 93 Cliftonville Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT14 6JQ

Cliftonville Integrated Primary School is a two-storey Art Deco school complex in rustic red brick, built in 1937–38 to designs by Reginald Sharman Wilshere (1888–1961), architect to the Belfast Corporation Education Committee, and constructed by the local building firm Thomas McKee & Sons. The complex is arranged around a central quadrangle, with single-storey flat-roofed extensions to the north-west and north-east. At the time of survey, Cliftonville Primary School occupied the majority of the building, with the Educational Welfare Offices and the Department of the Environment Road Safety Offices occupying the first floor of the west wing.

Historical Background

The school's origins lie with Belfast's first Model School — a school intended to act as a model for all other schools in the district — which was erected on Divis Street on 19th May 1857. That building was burned to the ground in 1922 during the sectarian violence that wrecked the city in the aftermath of the partition of Ireland. Following partition, responsibility for education in Northern Ireland passed to local authorities under the 1923 Education Act, and the Belfast Education Committee was established to administer existing schools and oversee the construction of new ones. The committee relocated the Model School to Clifton Lodge on the Cliftonville Road, but by the 1930s the building could no longer cope with increasing pupil numbers. It was decided to demolish the former dwelling and construct a new school on the same site.

Wilshere prepared his design in February 1936. An English architect based in Belfast, he had been appointed the Education Committee's chief designer in 1926 and went on to design 26 schools before the outbreak of the Second World War. The Irish Builder recorded that Wilshere's own belief was that "if the children of a district have no beauty in their daily surroundings, they need beauty all the more in their schools." His characteristic technique was to lay out large schools around quadrangles, with corridors opened to fresh air. Paul Larmour noted that his schools "range from the neo-Georgian to the outright modernistic … there are also hints of modern German, Scandinavian and Dutch work. Most are built in brick with dressings of artificial stone, and roofs covered with Roman tiles, whilst classrooms were frequently finished in varying shades of colour." The entrance tower at Cliftonville was influenced by the work of Dutch Modernist architect Willem M. Dudok (1884–1974).

Among the most distinctive features of the original design were the art room and housewifery room, both semi-circular in plan. Wilshere intended that this shape would suit "demonstrations in one case and the grouping of pupils around a model in the other." The art room had practically its entire curved wall glazed, facing north, in order to provide shadowless light for drawing.

The foundation stone was laid on 18th June 1937 and the completed school was opened on 19th October 1938. It was valued at £910 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57). The fifth-edition Ordnance Survey map (1920–38) depicted the school in its current layout, although the eastern wing was not constructed until the mid-20th century.

The school continued to operate as Belfast's Model School until the 1950s. In 1954, under the terms of the 1947 Education Act (Northern Ireland), Belfast Model School was divided into separate boys' and girls' schools, both relocated to new buildings — the boys' school to the Ballysillan Road and the girls' school off the Oldpark Road. In 1957 the former Model School on the Cliftonville Road was merged with the Antrim Road Baptists, Lynn Memorial, Percy Street and Duncairn Schools to form Cliftonville Infant and Junior Schools, and its rateable value rose to £2,300. In 1982 the Infant and Junior Schools were amalgamated to form Cliftonville Primary School. The building was listed in 1994 and granted integrated status in 2008, becoming Cliftonville Integrated Primary School.

The First Survey of 1993 described it as "a two-storeyed building in rustic brick laid out around a central quadrangle, designed in a modern style and exhibiting such characteristic details as long horizontal bands of windows with horizontal glazing bars, Art Deco motifs in metal window grilles, and terrace railings and tall slit windows to the entrance tower … this school is a fine example of this architect's mature work, entirely modern in layout and design."

Exterior

The roofs are of red clay Roman tiles throughout, with a hipped profile. To the south elevation, raised parapets with concrete coping are used in place of projecting eaves; to the east elevations of the east and west wings, the hipped roof has projecting eaves. Flat roofs are felted with raised parapets and concrete coping. There are square-section chimneystacks with corbelled coping. Rainwater goods are of decorated cast iron hoppers discharging to cast iron circular downpipes, though some have been replaced with uPVC on the west elevation. The walling throughout is rustic red brick laid in a variation of Flemish bond, with projecting brick courses at various heights. Window openings are generally square-headed with timber casement windows fitted with horizontal glazing bars, except where noted otherwise. Some windows have been replaced with uPVC casements.

The principal elevation faces south and is composed of several distinct elements from west to east: a two-storey flat-roofed bay at the west end; a double-height hipped-roof bay immediately to its east; a recessed three-storey flat-roofed entrance tower; and a single-storey flat-roofed building with a curving elevation at the east end. The west-end entrance has a square-headed opening with a double-leaf modern door and glazed sidelights, above which is a cantilevered concrete canopy. A timber window with toplights sits to the west of the entrance and at first-floor level. The double-height hipped-roof bay is lit by an eight-part horizontal band of tall windows. The entrance tower has a square-headed opening with a double-leaf timber panelled door and a cantilevered concrete canopy; above this, a pair of tall narrow windows rise from first-floor to second-floor level, separated by a curved brick pier. To the east of the tower are a four-part window to one bay and four small narrow windows to the next. The curving elevation at the east end carries a horizontal band of windows with horizontal glazing bars, continuing around the curve.

The east elevation comprises, from south to north: the single-storey flat-roofed curving elevation; a single bay immediately to its north; the long two-storey east wing; a single-storey flat-roofed block connecting the east wing to a double-height flat-roofed building; and a later single-storey flat-roofed three-bay extension to the north-east. The bay immediately north of the curving elevation has a square-headed opening with a double-leaf metal door. Horizontal bands of corner windows light the next bay to the north. The east wing is a long hipped-roof block with horizontal bands of curtain glazing — horizontal panes at both ground-floor and first-floor level — flanked at both north and south ends by two-storey flat-roofed bays, each with a single window opening at ground-floor level. The double-height building is lit by a tall band of windows, and the north-east extension has three bays of glazed walling.

The north elevation was not directly accessible at the time of survey, but from what could be observed it appears to include a large double-height flat-roofed circular-plan building at the centre, with a tall band of windows, flanked by single-storey flat-roofed buildings with curving corners. These connect to single-storey flat-roofed extensions at both east and west ends, most of which are later additions.

The west elevation consists of a long two-storey hipped-roof west wing to the north, abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed modern extension on its west side. The west face of the west wing has full-height windows and glazed doors at ground-floor level, a series of oblong windows with decorative metalwork above, and a long horizontal band of windows at first-floor level. Two modern extensions now interrupt this elevation. The south end of the west elevation appears to have been altered, with replacement uPVC windows.

Setting

The school complex sits within its own grounds to the north of Cliftonville Road. The site includes tarmacked parking to the south and north-west, a tarmacked yard to the east, and playing fields to the north. The central quadrangle is lawned with tarmacked pathways along each side. The site is enclosed by fencing to the north and east; to the west, by stepped red brick walling topped with concrete coping and painted metal railings; and to the south, by metal railings. The gates to the south and east are of modern painted metal railings supported on square-section red brick piers with projecting stone plinths and moulded stone copings. An opening in the west walling, now blocked, indicates that a further gate formerly existed there.

Despite some loss of original fabric and later additions that compromise the school's architectural character, Cliftonville Integrated Primary School is a fine example of Wilshere's design, demonstrating his ingenious layout and distinctive architectural style. It has group value with the other listed Wilshere-designed schools in Belfast.