Rosetta Primary School, 21-23 Knockbreda Road, Belfast, BT6 0JA

Rosetta Primary School is a relatively large brick-built primary school constructed in three distinct phases, situated on the south side of Knockbreda Road, a leafy suburban street flanked by substantial late Victorian and Edwardian residences to the north and west. One of those houses, immediately to the west, originally served as the headmaster's residence.

THE ORIGINAL 1896 BUILDING (WEST SECTION)

The earliest part of the school dates from 1896 and was originally known as Rosetta Academy. It is a double-height, single-storey, hall-like building, roughly rectangular in plan, built in a Freestyle gabled style with a slight Flemish character. Its principal features are gables to the front, east and west, and a short tower-like entrance porch with a shallow pyramidal roof at the northwest corner. Much of the east side and all of the original south side of this building have since been absorbed into the 1926 extension.

The front, north-facing elevation is dominated by a large shaped gable with the entrance porch to its right. The entrance — now no longer in use — consists of a tall panelled timber double door reached by a short flight of splayed concrete steps. Above the door is a large semicircular cement-rendered panel, which may have replaced an original fanlight, set within a moulded brick reveal with a decorative sandstone keystone and a moulded black dripstone. The shaped gable itself contains a pair of tall semicircular-headed windows fitted with replacement PVC frames, set within a large shallow bay flanked by decorative red sandstone panels with floral moulding. The bay is topped by a full-width panel containing a decorative pair of sub-panel mouldings flanked by moulded date stones. Above this is a small roundel opening with louvred infill, and above that, at the apex of the gable, is a semicircular pediment surmounted by a ball finial. Moulded string courses run across both the gable and the entrance porch, intersected by similar vertically arranged mouldings. The gable has sandstone coping, and the hip roof of the porch is also topped with a ball finial. An early conjectural drawing from the 1890s shows that the architect originally intended the porch to be crowned with a cupola.

Only a small portion of the east elevation of the original building remains visible. It is largely plain and undecorated. To the left (south) is a large gable with four unevenly spaced flat-arched window openings fitted with late 1970s or 1980s timber frames, and a similar window to the far right beyond the gable. Near the apex of the gable is a small roundel opening. Patching to the brickwork indicates that the flat-arched openings, with the exception of the roundel, are not original, and that the gable once had a pair of tall semicircular-headed windows matching those on the front elevation.

The west elevation consists of the entrance porch to the left with two gabled bays to its right, the farther one being larger and projecting further forward. The porch contains a single relatively small window with a replacement timber frame, set within a tall semicircular-headed recess with a moulded reveal and keystone; patching to the brickwork suggests this window originally filled the entire recess. The gable immediately to the right of the porch contains three unevenly spaced windows of differing sizes, all with late 1970s or 1980s timber frames, none of which appears to be original. The larger gable to the far right is a near replica of the east elevation gable, and again none of its window openings appears to be original.

The roof is partly gabled and partly hipped, slated, with clay ridge tiles. There are large dormer-like rooflights to the east, west and south of the main roof section, all fitted with timber frames that may be original.

THE 1926 ADDITION (EAST SECTION)

The 1926 extension is substantially larger and plainer in character, built in an institutional Queen Anne style with two-storey hip-roofed wings. In plan it forms an irregular U-shape, with the main entrance wing to the north, a wing to the south that completely covers the rear elevation of the original building, and a diagonally set wing connecting them to the east. Together with the original building, these wings enclose a small roughly triangular yard. The walls are brick-built, the overailing roofs are hipped and slated, and the windows are flat-arched with timber or PVC replacement frames.

The front elevation of the north wing is symmetrical, with a large full-height gabled bay at the centre. At ground floor level this bay contains the main entrance: a large flat-arched open porch with a mainly glazed door screen set within. The current appearance of the entrance suggests it was altered in the 1960s, a reading supported by the raised lettering spelling out the school's name above it. The entrance is reached by concrete steps that now incorporate a disabled-access ramp. It is flanked by two large windows, with four similar windows on the first floor of the bay. The two central first-floor windows are set within semicircular-headed recesses; the original openings may have filled the whole of both recesses. Above these windows is a large panel — possibly stone — with the school's name inscribed on it. The gable is topped with a semicircular pediment incorporating a red sandstone date stone. To either side of the central bay there are three windows per floor.

The south, yard-facing elevation of the north wing consists almost entirely of a two-storey flat-roofed projection. At ground floor level this projection is occupied by a large full-width glazed screen, which was probably originally completely open to the yard. At first-floor level there are four windows. Above and set back behind the projection, on the main section of the wing, there is a row of squat clerestory windows. At the east end of the north wing there is a tall plain brick chimneystack.

The east-facing elevation of the east wing has six windows at ground floor level with a louvred opening to the far right, and seven larger windows at first-floor level. At the far northeast end the facade is bevelled. At ground floor level here is the former girls' entrance, now filled with a replacement timber and glazed double door but retaining what appears to be its original multi-paned fanlight and a recessed panel inscribed GIRLS above it. At the upper level there is a large window. At the south end of the east wing, at the junction with the south wing, there is a small single-storey flat-roofed boiler room.

The west, yard-facing elevation of the east wing mirrors that of the north wing but is longer, with five windows at first-floor level and additional clerestory windows.

The south wing has a large full-height projecting hip-roofed bay to the left (west) side. At ground floor level within this bay are a pair of very large windows separated only by a very narrow pier. To the right of the bay there are three more pairs of windows on each floor. The short west elevation of this wing has two windows at ground floor level with the former boys' entrance to the left, similar in character to the girls' entrance described above. At first-floor level there are three windows of widely differing sizes. Only a small section of the north, yard-facing elevation of this wing is fully exposed; it resembles the other yard-facing elevations but with only one window at first-floor level.

THE 1960s AND LATER ADDITIONS (SOUTH SECTION)

Attached to the southwest corner of the south wing is a large single-storey flat-roofed Modernist extension added around 1965. It is also brick-built. The east elevation has three very large full-height windows, with another to the left on the south elevation. Attached to the west side of this is a further, somewhat smaller but still relatively large, Modernist addition which appears to have been built around 1970. This is constructed in concrete brick with a flat roof and has rows of very large windows to the south. This section houses a nursery school. There is a freestanding building of similar design further to the west. To the south of the main building there is a large school yard.

THE GROUNDS AND BOUNDARY TREATMENT

The school grounds are enclosed from Knockbreda Road by simple 1920s wrought-iron railings set on a low brick plinth. The original more decorative railings that formerly stood in front of the 1896 building have been removed, though a section survives where they divide the school grounds from the garden of the former headmaster's house to the west. There is a pedestrian gateway to the west side of the main front railings, in front of the original building, which retains what may be the original 1890s brick piers but has a 1920s wrought-iron gate. The vehicle entrance to the east end was widened in 2003 and new gates were added at that time.

THE FORMER HEADMASTER'S HOUSE (19 KNOCKBREDA ROAD)

The former headmaster's house stands immediately to the west of the school. It is a relatively large detached two-and-a-half-storey red brick residence with asymmetrical elevations and full-height gables to the north, south and west, single-storey canted bays to the north and west, and a large single-storey L-shaped extension to the rear (south) added around 1990. The overhanging roof is slated with plain bargeboards and a tall centrally located brick chimneystack. The windows are largely flat-arched; most retain their original timber sash frames. The entrance is to the east and retains its original panelled door. A doorway on the east side of the house that originally connected it to the school grounds has been replaced by a small window. The original railings to the front of the house have been replaced, except for a section on the east side. The house was sold and became a private residence in 1978.

HISTORY

Rosetta Primary School traces its origins to a Sunday school held in a room at St John's (Newtownbreda) Presbyterian Church around 1844. A school was opened at St John's in 1867, and following the construction of a new church in 1892, a new school — Rosetta Academy, represented by the original western section of the present building — was built in 1896. The opening ceremony was performed on 16th November of that year by Mrs W. J. Pirrie, the Lady Mayoress. At the same time a house was built next door for the headmaster. The school was handed over to the state in 1901 and became Rosetta National School. It was massively extended in 1926 and in 1930 was renamed Rosetta Public Elementary School. Following the 1947 Education Act it became Rosetta Primary School. The large single-storey addition to the rear was built around 1965, and the smaller concrete brick-built single-storey addition to the west a few years after that.

There are two competing theories as to how the school came by its name. The first holds that it is derived from the piece of land on which it was built — land acquired from a Mr Kennedy, the first manager of the school — which was known locally as the Rosetta field, reportedly named after Mr Kennedy's wife. A house called Rosetta House, possibly the Kennedy family home, was recorded in the area in 1862. The second theory is that the school was named after the famous Rosetta Stone. A plaster cast of the Stone — one of only four believed to have been made — is said to have been set into a wall within the original section of the building, possibly acquired by a Mr Workman, Minister of Newtownbreda and manager of the school in 1896, who travelled widely. A former pupil, Mr Lionel Ervin, has stated that he remembers seeing the cast and can identify precisely where it was displayed, and that it disappeared in 1926 during the building of the extension. As a curious postscript, the present principal of the school has noted that a plaster cast of the Rosetta Stone was installed in an Egyptian-themed bar on nearby Rosetta Road in the 1970s. It is possible that both theories contain an element of truth: the name Rosetta deriving from the Kennedy family connection, with Dr Workman later acquiring the plaster cast as an apt addition to a school that already bore the name.