Primary School, Chirnside

Designed by G Reid & J Smith Forbes between 1937 and 1938, with later additions and alterations, this Grade A listed building is a remarkable example of 1930s Art Deco school architecture. The school comprises a single and two-storey structure with basement, organised in a near Z-plan arrangement with a prominent square-plan entrance tower to the front and a service range at the rear. The building is constructed of painted harl with sandstone ashlar dressings, featuring a prominent base course, channelled cill courses in places, channelled blocking courses, and sandstone coping. The tower is distinguished by moulded, stylised quoins, whilst carved sandstone aprons—some channelled, some bearing stylised South American motifs—punctuate the facades. Projecting cills run throughout. Single storey, flat-roofed playsheds flank the main building to the east and west.

The southeast (entrance) elevation is dominated by the five-stage entrance tower, offset to the left of centre. This features steps leading to a deep-set, two-leaf, herringbone-panelled door at ground level, flanked by engaged columns and topped with polygonal finials surmounting a channelled cornice. Above the door sits a tall rectangular opening with decorative glazing set in a deep-set niche with channelled apron and projecting tiered, finialled canopy. Three small corniced openings rise from left to right above, with a channelled blocking course completing the composition. To the right of the tower, a symmetrical two-storey, five-bay wing is adjoined, featuring large screen windows at both floors in the centre and flanking bays (with continuous cill course at first floor), small windows at both floors in the outer left bay and at first floor in the outer right bay (with stylised aprons to upper openings), and a glazed door at ground in the outer right bay. A glazed door in a single storey wing with bowed end adjoins further right. To the left of the tower, a single storey wing with bowed end is recessed, featuring a narrow window at ground to the right, single windows in two bays to the left, basement openings below, and single windows in the bowed end to the outer left, with a continuous channelled blocking course. A symmetrical two-storey, nine-bay teaching wing is recessed further left, comprising regularly-spaced screen windows at both floors in the three central bays (with single windows flanking a ground floor opening centred at ground and continuous cill course at first floor), single windows at both floors in the penultimate bays to the outer left and right (with stylised aprons to upper openings), and steps to two-leaf, deep-set timber panelled doors at ground in the outer left and right bays with stylised and single-finialled door-surrounds. Single windows centred in single storey blocks adjoined to the outer left and right link the assembly hall.

The southwest (side) elevation features a single storey, four-bay assembly hall at centre with regularly spaced windows in all bays, channelled aprons, and carved roundels set between each bay, each bearing different symbolic motifs. A two-storey wing projects to the left with a single storey addition to the front, and a single storey service block is recessed to the outer left. A single storey, three-bay bowed projection extends to the outer right, with a linking bay recessed to its left. A corniced opening is centred in the square-plan tower offset to the right behind.

The northwest (rear) elevation comprises a regularly fenestrated two-storey, five-bay teaching block to the right, with two-part upper windows divided by sandstone lintels and single storey flanking bays. A later single storey dining hall and kitchen range occupies the centre, with a two-storey, five-bay wing recessed to the left featuring a central projection, a large screen window at first floor to the right, and large screen windows at both floors to the left.

The northeast (side) elevation displays a two-storey wing to the outer left with a single storey, bowed projection further left (featuring a channelled blocking course) and a single storey addition to the right. A two-storey block recessed to the right incorporates a corniced entrance at ground, followed by a regularly fenestrated two-storey, four-bay assembly hall recessed further right with a five-bay projection at ground. A later dining hall and kitchen projects to the outer right.

Throughout the building, predominantly double-glazed windows with original glazing patterns serve the principal classrooms, whilst original steel-framed windows remain in other openings. The building is topped with flat roofs of reinforced concrete and asphalt, with a channelled sandstone corner stack surmounting the tower and a coped, whitewashed stack on the lower block behind. Original decorative rainwater goods are retained.

The interior features a vestibule with patterned granolithic flooring and dado panelling, accessed through a two-leaf, part-glazed door. A main corridor with part granolithic, part painted dado panelling leads through the building, with a small timber stair accessing an office and a circular window with crossbars to the janitor's office. Classrooms are predominantly accessed via part opaque-glazed timber doors, whilst an architraved surround frames a large, square-headed stage opening in the assembly hall. Main stairs feature solid balustrades with consoled ends and decorative, consoled iron handrails, with a further stair displaying geometric-patterned iron uprights and consoled ends.

The west playshed has a painted harl finish with a near full-width, square-headed opening with rectangular-section piers supporting a projecting canopy. The southwest and northeast sheds are similarly finished in painted harl and feature flat roofs with full-width, square-headed openings divided by central columns.

Boundary walls, quadrant walls, gatepiers and gates enclose the site in part, comprising coped, part harled walls. Stepped ashlar quadrant walls flank the central entrance with steps leading to rectangular-plan, round-ended, coped ashlar gatepiers, through which pass two-leaf decorative wrought and cut sheet steel gates.

This building represents an outstanding example of the work of the Edinburgh-based practice Reid & Forbes, who by 1937 had already designed Inverness Academy, the addition to Dalkeith High, Niddrie Marischal School, and the former Leith Academy. In 1936, a year before commencing work at Chirnside, the practice completed the nearby Kelso Academy. The similarities between these two buildings are pronounced: both feature a square-plan tower, flat roofs, bowed projections, and unusual carved motifs derived from Frank Lloyd Wright's reinterpretation of American Indianism, particularly his work at Midway Gardens. Kelso Academy is regarded as the prototype for Chirnside. Prominently sited on the main road beneath Chirnside village, the school remains one of the most significant landmarks in the area and one of the most complete examples of its type. The building was repainted in 1998.