Anderson Institute, Lovers Loan, Lerwick

Anderson Institute, Lovers Loan, Lerwick

A 2-storey school designed by William Smith of Aberdeen in 1860–1, with alterations made in 1924. The building is executed in an asymmetrical Tudor style with French Baronial details. It comprises a 4-bay centre block with a 2-stage entrance tower, flanked by single-storey wings with attic storeys. The left (south) wing has 4 bays and the right (north) wing has 5 bays, with a 2-stage tower set in the re-entrant angle.

The walls are constructed of harl-pointed stugged rubble with droved sandstone ashlar dressings and details. The base course features chamfered arrises and sloping window cills throughout.

The principal (north-east) elevation is asymmetrical, with 4 bays and gabled bays at the outer left and right. The left bay contains a 2-storey, 3-light gothic traceried canted oriel with a heavily corbelled base, lintel course and cornice above. An engaged octagonal shaft rises to a ball finial at the gablehead. The principal tower is open at ground level with stone steps accessing a concrete-covered platform. Entry is via a vertically-boarded timber door with a plate glass fanlight above. The tower has a buttressed north corner, a band course at first-floor level, a string course, machicolated cornice and blocking course at eaves. The north-east face carries a pointed-arch opening at ground floor, above which is a polished pink granite plaque with a hoodmould; a blank panel is inset in the band course above, and a circular clock face set in a square frame is centred at the upper stage. The north-west face has a pointed-arch opening at ground floor, a hoodmoulded window above, and two narrow windows at the upper stage. A pointed-arch 3-light window occupies the bay to the right, with a 3-light window at first-floor level. A gabled dormer breaks the eaves, featuring shield carving in the gablehead and a ball finial at the apex. The bay to the outer right is slightly advanced, with a 4-light canted bay, battered base course and crenellated parapet. A hoodmoulded window at first-floor level sits in a crowstepped gable with a fleur-de-lys finial at the apex.

The north-west elevation features the advanced north wing and a 2-stage tower set in the re-entrant angle to the left. The tower's square lower stage has pointed-arch door and window openings at ground floor; the narrow windows of the octagonal upper stage have a string course and dentilled cornice at eaves. Two closely-spaced bays lie immediately to the left, with a blind basement window in the left bay and adjoining gabled dormerheads breaking the eaves.

The south-east elevation has the advanced south wing at left, with a gabled entrance porch in the re-entrant angle to the right. The porch has stone steps and a pointed-arched door, with a large gothic-traceried window adjacent to the right.

The south-west (rear) elevation is 2-storey, with a 2-bay gable at the outer right and a 2-storey addition advanced at the left.

The north wing is single-storey and attic, with a 5-bay principal (north-east) elevation that is symmetrical except for the tower in the outer left bay. Regular fenestration occupies the bays to the right, with pointed-arch windows at ground floor and gabled dormers breaking the eaves. The 2-bay north-west gable end has pointed-arch windows at ground floor and a chimneybreast corbelled out at first-floor level. The regularly fenestrated rear elevation is blank at ground in the centre bay and has a stair window at intermediate level in the outer right bay, with gabled dormers breaking the eaves throughout.

The south wing is single-storey and attic, with a 4-bay principal (north-east) elevation that is symmetrical except for a porch in the outer right bay. The porch contains a vertically-boarded timber door with a plate glass fanlight above. Regular fenestration occupies the bays to the left, with pointed-arch windows at ground floor and gabled dormers breaking the eaves. The gable matches the north wing. The regularly fenestrated rear elevation has a blank at ground in the inner left bay and gabled dormers breaking the eaves.

Most windows are 4-pane and plate glass timber sash and case windows with timber mullions. Ground-floor windows to the rear elevation and later addition have multi-pane timber sash and case windows. Multi-pane mullioned windows with cusped lower lights and leaded glazing serve the library and entrance porch.

Roofing is of grey slate to the main block, wings and dormers. Cast-iron gutters and downpipes with hoppers are employed throughout. The principal tower has a bell-cast square pyramidal roof with cast-iron brattishing around the platform. The north tower carries a bell-cast octagonal pyramidal roof with finial. The addition has a piended roof to the south, and the oriel has a lead roof. Chimney stacks are of polished ashlar, each with a string course, corniced cope and octagonal cans; the principal 4-flue stack features incised vertical channelling.

The interior features vertically-boarded timber wainscoting throughout, and panelled doors with 6-pane glazed upper panels. A galleried hall has a timber balustrade with turned spindles at first-floor level, beneath a pyramidal cupola. Doors off the gallery are set in pointed-arch recesses. Timber staircases have turned spindles and ball finials to the newels. The library is roofed with a hammerbeam roof, the hammerbeams and hammerposts decorated with bosses. Wall-posts bearing on semi-octagonal corbels support the structure.

Boundary walls of random rubble with ashlar cope extend to the north and south. A stugged ashlar dwarf wall fronts Twageos Road, topped with an ogee ashlar cope and cast-iron railing. This wall is terminated to north and south by square ashlar piers with pyramidal caps. Square ashlar gatepiers with pyramidal caps (currently dismantled as of 1995) mark the entrance. A random rubble retaining wall with ashlar cope lies immediately to the rear of the north wing.