Portstewart Primary School, 22-24 Central Avenue, Portstewart, Co. Londonerry, BT55 7BT

Portstewart Primary School is a detached single-storey red brick building complex built between 1936 and 1938 to designs by Malcolm Moon McQuigg of the prominent architectural firm W. & M. Given. The school was officially opened on 25 May 1938 and represents an accomplished example of Modernistic Functional style introduced to Northern Ireland during the 1930s, comparable to contemporary school designs by R. S. Wilshere in Belfast.

The original 1936-37 building comprises a central administration block with classroom wings either side arranged in a butterfly plan. The central block faces east and is set back from Central Avenue in extensive grounds. The administration block is four windows wide with a hipped roof surmounted by a lead-lined gothic styled open timber lantern at its centre, and a tall red brick chimneystack rising from the rear. At the centre of the front elevation stands a rendered parapet wall with bronze lettering reading "PORTSTEWART / Public Elementary & Technical / School", topped by a pediment. Two entrance porches flank the block, each comprising a square-headed door set within a brick porch with stepped rendered parapet and keystone, bearing bronze lettering stating "GIRLS" and "BOYS" respectively. The central block is flanked by lower wings set at angles, the former girls' entrance to the south and former boys' entrance (now principal entrance) to the north. The north wing connects to a classroom block three windows wide; the south wing connects to a classroom block nine windows wide.

All roofs are hipped with natural slate and black clay ridge tiles, lead valleys, and boxed timber eaves with uPVC rainwater goods. Red brick walling is laid in English garden wall bond with rusticated rendered eaves, a flush cement course below the eaves, and a red brick plinth course with chamfered cement trim. Window openings are square-headed with concrete lintels and sills and uPVC windows. A central bitumac playground is lined by interconnecting buildings.

The school underwent major extensions around 1970 when additional classroom blocks were constructed to the north-west of the original building. A connecting corridor with murals and flat roof was added in the 1980s, along with a two-storey block to the west. The north blocks fronting Queenora Avenue have hipped slate roofs and a large flat-roofed accretion spanning the entire north elevations, with a central recessed square-headed door opening to the flat-roofed section having timber doors and sidelights.

The building sits on a large triangular site between Central Avenue, Queenora Avenue and Garden Avenue. The grounds contain bitumac and turf playing areas to the west, and a large lawn and bitumac car park to the front, enclosed by original red brick walls featuring Art Deco style rendered piers and coping.

The school was constructed following the 1923 Education Act, which made local authorities responsible for school construction throughout Northern Ireland. Malcolm Moon McQuigg (1904-1974), a Coleraine-based architect who had attended Coleraine Academical Institution, joined W. & M. Given in 1923 and became a partner. The practice developed into one of the largest architectural firms in the north-west of Ireland. The Irish Builder recorded that construction began in 1936 with estimated costs of approximately £3,500. The school was valued at £800 upon first revaluation in 1956-72, and increased to £1,520 in 1970 when the major extension was undertaken. All current school buildings were completed by 1979 according to Ordnance Survey mapping. The building continues to operate as a primary school and remains administered by the County Londonderry Education Authority.