Nettlefield Primary School, Radnor Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT6 8BG

Nettlefield Primary School is a modern primary school built to the designs of Education Architect Reginald S. Wilshere between 1933 and 1936. It is located at the end of Radnor Street off the Woodstock Road in East Belfast, set within a residential area of two-storey terraces.

The school comprises single and two-storey blocks arranged in a quadrangle, together with a detached two-storey caretaker's house. The buildings are constructed in red brick laid to Flemish bond with a moulded plinth course and a hipped rosemary tile roof with cast-iron rainwater goods featuring decorative hopper-heads. Parapet eaves (largely repaired around 2000) have overhanging eaves with plain timber soffits and fascia boards. Windows are timber casements with horizontal glazing bars and bronze ironmongery. The principal north-facing elevation is asymmetrically arranged and dominated by a striking entrance tower rising above parapet level. This is a symmetrical square-plan tower with a flat roof, featuring double-leaf doors at ground floor with moulded surrounds, topped by a cantilevered step-moulded canopy with three tiered diminished projected planes separated by horizontal glazed strips. At first-floor level is a diminished window with a semi-octagonal canopy and metal balcony over a brick corbel. The upper portion of the tower's east and west cheeks contain three narrow vertical openings with a single casement window to the south. The tower is surmounted by a timber lantern, reputedly replicating a Scandinavian-style lighthouse. The tower is flanked on the left by a two-storey flat-roof corridor projecting beyond the hipped roof, comprising thirteen double-leaf doors with round-headed fanlights and vertical glazing bars at ground floor, flanked by pairs of single windows, with seven uniformly arranged quadripartite windows to the first floor. To the right of the tower is a flat-roof double bay with single and quadripartite windows. The far right of the façade adjoins a single-storey entrance porch with a bipartite window over, connecting to a detached double-height assembly hall with hipped roof and parapet. A carved sandstone crest depicting a horse and seahorse embracing a coat of arms with "NETTLEFIELD P(ublic) E(lementary) SCHOOL" inscribed below is positioned on the entrance tower.

The assembly hall's east and west facades feature arrow-head projecting bay-windows (some windows removed on the east façade due to a modern single-storey extension). The north façade of the assembly hall is a truncated version of the principal entrance, rising only to balcony level and projecting from an otherwise blank elevation.

The east elevation is asymmetrically arranged and single-storey, with a recessed portion to the right containing single and quadripartite windows and a double-leaf door with canopy. Replacement doors and windows infill former openings to the left, with a modern extension abutting the far left.

The south elevation is symmetrically arranged with a hipped roof in five bays. Each bay comprises a timber double-leaf door accessing the playground, embraced by vertical timber casement windows with continuous cill rising from six courses of brickwork, creating a largely glazed façade.

The west façade is asymmetrically arranged. A single-storey flat-roof portion to the right contains replacement windows and doors infilling former openings, with a modern extension abutting the far right. The left side comprises a projected single-storey bay with tripartite louvered vents and a further two-storey flat-roofed bay with a louvered door and canopy, with a diminished balcony window to the first floor.

Within the quadrangle, the south elevation of the north block comprises five bays with vertical casement windows to ground and first floors, centrally located double-leaf doors at ground floor, and a flat-roofed two-storey portion to the far left with a single door (now infilled) and two bipartite windows at first floor. The facades of the west and east blocks are single-storey, formerly open cloisters prior to infilling with glazing and central doors around 1960. The south block façade projects at ground floor level with a flat-roofed corridor with similar infilling to the side blocks, with clerestory glazing above.

The caretaker's house is a two-storey L-shaped structure with a hipped roof, matching the detailing of the school building with some internal plasterwork and joinery of interest. It has suffered alterations and water damage (2010).

The setting includes artificial sports pitches to the south and a single-storey nursery building (circa 1960) to the east. Modern access ramps have been added to the entrances, with walling and railings added to the principal entrance and east elevation. A lawn occupies the front of the site.