Edenbrooke Primary School, 230 Tennent Street, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT13 3GG

Edenbrooke Primary School is a freestanding two-storey modernist building constructed between 1934 and 1938, located on the western side of Tennent Street in west Belfast, in an urban residential setting south of Crumlin Road.

The building is essentially quadrangular in plan, comprising four rectangular blocks orientated around a central open-air courtyard. Flat-roofed, parapetted links connect the four blocks at the corners of the quadrangle. A caretaker's house stands at the north boundary, a double-height assembly hall abuts the north-east corner of the main building, and a flat-roofed mid-to-late 20th century addition of no particular interest abuts the south-west.

The main roofing consists of hipped pan-tile with roll-moulded clay ridge and hip-tiles, though the north and south blocks have black and grey corrugated pitched roofs. All roofs are generally parapetted except the eastern block. Half-round cast iron rainwater goods with decorative hopper-heads serve the building. The walling is rusticated red brick laid to Monk bond with reconstituted stone dressings to parapets, string courses, window details and door canopies.

Windows are generally flat-headed timber casement with horizontal glazing bars, though some are metal, particularly to the north elevation. Reconstituted stone sills and lintels, often continuous, feature plain reveals and surrounds.

The building's internal planning comprises four separate blocks with flat-roofed, parapetted enclosed corridors containing stairs and service rooms linking the four corners of the quadrangle. Each block is abutted by a projecting two-storey flat-roofed enclosed perimeter corridor with clerestory over on the inner courtyard elevation. Circulation space is generally oriented around the inner courtyard with rooms arranged around the outer perimeter, except for the northern block.

The principal elevation faces east and comprises the main eastern block with parapetted links to each side. This elevation features continuous windows to the ground floor with six equally spaced windows to the first floor, both fitted with metal grilles and continuous sills and lintel strips. Three windows to the first floor of the right gable and three panes of continuous window to the ground floor gable. The right side is abutted by a single-storey parapetted link block which extends north and east, abutting the north block and assembly hall to the north-east. This link block contains three recessed timber and glass entrance doors to the right with curved windows and wall to the left. A modern school name sign is mounted on the rebuilt parapet. The left gable of the main east block is similar to the right and is abutted by a single-storey flat-roof link connecting to the south block. This connecting link has two lattice-paned windows to the right, a timber door and a single window to the left; the south elevation has two plain-paned windows to centre and right and a vertical window to the left. A flat roof extends west abutting the east gable wall of the south block.

The main elevation of the south block comprises four large multipane windows with double-leaf doors to the centre and single doors to each side. First-floor level includes 21-paned replacement metal windows to the left side. The ground floor has an abutting covered walkway to a single-storey flat-roof south extension with metal windows of little interest. The right gable contains a continuous window with a square brick chimney to the left side. A multipane window to the first floor of the westerly connecting link provides a restricted view of the remaining south block and right gable. Access to the west elevation is restricted with obstructed views, and the roof is completely flat.

The north block has four openings of ten adjacent windows to the first floor, with a single window and rectangular window to the right of the main block. At ground floor level are central double-leaf timber doors with large windows to each side, a continuous rendered lintel surmounting each opening and a clerestory window above. A flat-roofed single-storey projection to the far right side contains two windows and a timber door to the eastern side. A lean-to addition to the re-entrant angle at the left side is blank except for a skylight.

The north-east block containing the assembly hall abuts the far left side. The north gable has a parapetted projection with curved corners. The right cheek has four brick pilasters separating four windows at two levels with a reconstituted stone canopy; previous additional windows to the right have been blocked up and a door to the left on the ground floor has been closed. Cement rendering appears beneath the windows. Quarter-turn steps with winders in a recess lead up to a door on the left, surmounted by a reconstituted stone and concrete canopy. The left cheek has a similar window pattern five openings wide, with a window to a recess on the right side; the left side abuts the entrance block.

The elevations facing the inner courtyard each vary. The south elevation mirrors that of the main north block, and the north courtyard elevation copies the main south elevation. The west elevation has three central doors to ground level with clerestories above and to the outer edges, surmounted by a wide window with two angled projecting panes to the centre. The east elevation has a central advancing single-storey flat-roofed porch with a window and door, windows to each cheek, a window and two clerestories to each side, and a former door to the centre of the first floor with a canopy above.

The site is slightly elevated within an urban residential setting. Neighbouring terraces stand to north and south. Brick dwarf walls with flat reconstituted stone copings and painted cast iron railings run along Tennent Street, with trees and shrubs behind. The entrance features four pairs of square piers supporting two pedestrian gates and two wide modern metal gates, with the central entrance having larger offset piers with patterned motif below copings. The perimeter includes a ramp and steps from south entrances, a curved brick wall with barbed wire bounds to the south, tarmac with playgrounds to north and central courtyard, and replacement brick walls and modern railings to north and west perimeter.

The two-storey caretaker's house of brick construction stands at the north-east corner, featuring an L-shaped plan, hipped pan-tile roof, cast iron rainwater goods, uPVC windows and doors with detailing similar to the main school building, and a curved wall to the south-west corner.