Grove Academy, Camperdown Street, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Grove Academy is a substantial school building on Camperdown Street in Broughty Ferry, comprising three main phases of construction designed by the architectural practice James MacLaren and Sons, with extensions by MacLaren, Sons and Soutar.

The original 1890 building and 1896 extension form the core of the complex. These are constructed in bull-faced snecked rubble with ashlar dressings, piended slate roofs finished with terracotta ridge tiles and finials. Both blocks feature band courses at basement and ground floor lintel level, and string courses at ground floor cill level. The 1st floor is slightly recessed with advanced window margins and corbelled ashlar eaves courses. Windows are predominantly large and multi-pane with top- and bottom-hopper timber frames. Ground floor windows have stop-chamfered jambs, with round-headed and corniced hoods, some featuring sculptured decoration on the north elevation and mannered hoodmoulds on the south and east elevations. Most 1st floor windows are segmental-headed. The roofline is enlivened by crowstepped, pedimental and piended dormerheads breaking through the eaves, alongside small bargeboarded dormers.

The 1907 extension, designed by MacLaren, Sons and Soutar, is similarly constructed in bull-faced snecked rubble with ashlar dressings, though harled at the north and west elevations. It follows the same roof treatment and retains the band course detailing. Windows here have chamfered jambs on the south and east elevations, with segmental-headed panels on the north. Piended and segmental dormerheads break through the eaves on the south elevation. A later 20th-century addition extends the complex further to the west.

Throughout all blocks, basement windows are protected by security meshes, and the building is equipped with numerous cast-iron rainwater goods featuring decorative hoppers.

The north elevation displays considerable architectural complexity. The 1890 block presents a recessed two-bay section at its centre with segmental-arched panels containing a door and windows, flanked by bipartite stair windows with corbelled and crenellated detailing. Advanced bays flank this central section, with crowstepped gable stacks. A glazed bridge with tiled roof at ground floor level links to the 1907 block. The 1896 block to the left features an advanced gable with windows breaking through eaves into crowstepped gables. The 1907 block on the right is asymmetrical, with a corniced stack and numerous windows arranged at varying levels, including large segmental windows at 1st floor and rooflights.

The east elevation contains a corbelled and crenellated entrance porch at its centre left with recessed door. Tripartite windows are partially masked by a later flat-roofed single-storey projection with boarded or louvred openings. Bipartite windows break through eaves with half-piended roofs, and horizontal rooflights are incorporated above some windows.

The south elevation is the most elaborate. The 1890 block at centre displays three bipartite windows at basement and ground floor, with three more at 1st floor breaking through eaves, the central window crowned with a crowstepped pediment and flanking windows topped with half-piended roofs. A school bell hangs on a bracket. Steps to a sub-basement with cast-iron railings are provided at the ground floor right return. The 1896 block to the right is similar to the 1890 block. The 1907 block to the left features three symmetrical bays with advanced and recessed sections, incorporating large segmental-headed windows at 1st floor level, shouldering gables with kneelers, and symmetrical stacks rising from coped skews. Multiple basement-level entrances with metal gates and railings provide access.

Internally, the building retains two scale and platt staircases with cast-iron barley sugar balusters. Some corridors and classrooms have boarded dados. The original assembly hall on the 1st floor of the 1890 block has been subdivided but retains exposed roof struts. The 1896 block similarly preserves roof struts in its art room. The 1907 block features a full-height assembly hall with scale and platt stairs at east and west behind tripartite segmental-arched screens leading to galleries on three walls, with plain metal balusters and oversailing loop braces. Exposed timber roof struts with queen posts and segmental braces are a notable feature.

The boundary treatment comprises flat-coped snecked rubble walls on the east side with a pyramidal-capped gatepier, cast-iron gate and railings. The south boundary wall is partly formed from the remains of former play sheds. Cast-iron railings at the north are set in low saddleback ashlar slabs.

Grove Academy became a Board School in 1889, taking over a school that had been established in the 1880s in a house at the north-east corner of the present site. This house was demolished when the 1896 extension was erected. The building occupies the whole of the south side of the west end of Camperdown Street and forms a large and impressive landmark.