Faughan Valley High School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached multi-bay, of varying storey heights, rendered Modernist school, built c.1958 to the designs of Noel Campbell for County Londonderry Education Committee. Irregular on plan with principal elevation facing southeast and set within its own grounds on the west side of Drumahoe Road with enclosed internal courtyards. Vacated in 2007.

Flat roofs with torch-on felt covering throughout set behind parapet walls with uPVC rainwater goods. Cedar-clad curved water tower enclosure to the northeast. Painted cement rendered walling with some concrete block construction exposed. Square-headed window openings with some curtain glazing having steel casement windows throughout.

Multi-bay principal south elevation is generally two storeys tall with a three-storey block to the west end. Plain rendered walls with a clerestorey and overhanging first floor supported on pilotis. The first floor has a curtain wall of steel casement windows and painted apron panels. Curtain wall glazing to the two upper floors of the three storey block. To the east end of this elevation is a polygonal entrance canopy, felt-lined above with hardwood lining to the soffit supported on triangular steel supports. Two pairs of double-leaf hardwood glazed doors and glazed surround.

Abutting the west elevation of the three-storey block is a series of lower extensions, some having timber casement windows.

Two-storey north elevation with sections of curtain glazing and regular square-headed windows. To the east end of the north elevation is a taller two-storey block with vertical window openings and abutted by a further series of single-storey extensions.

East elevation comprises a series of projections with a two-storey block to the south having an overhanging upper floor supported on pilotis, a recessed single-storey block with curtain glazing (with water tower), and a further L-plan wing entirely glazed to the front elevation with a central door opening and random coursed sandstone cladding to the recessed section.

Roof Torch-on felt covered
RWG uPVC
Walling Cement render & some sandstone cladding
Windows Steel casement & curtain walling

Setting
Located on the west side of Drumahoe Road on an extensive site bound by Glenshane Road to the south. The site is entirely secured with anti-climb steel fencing set behind a rough-cast rendered plinth wall. Circular rubblestone clad pillars with replacement security gates provide access to the site at its southeast corner. The site is a mixture of concrete and tarmac playgrounds and grassed areas.

Historical information

Built for the County Londonderry Education Committee to designs in the ‘International Modern’ style by Noel Campbell, Faughan Valley High School opened in 1959. It is regarded as a characteristic example of an important series of schools by one of Northern Ireland’s leading architects of the post-war period who was noted for the modern idiom in which he worked. The first intake of pupils for the new Faughan Valley Secondary Intermediate School was in September 1959. At this time the school could cater for 350 male and female pupils.

The notes made by the valuers provide an indication of the structural development of the school from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. These show that by September 1957 the new school was in the early stages of construction. The valuer’s notes for 1959 recorded the construction of a large intermediate school that cost around £103,000. It received a valuation of £1,240.

Over the next dozen years the rateable valuation of the school steadily increased so that by 1970 it had reached £1,720. Among the reasons for these increases was the construction of a headmaster’s residence within the school grounds in 1960-61, and extensions in 1966-7. The most significant increase came in 1971 when the school’s valuation was raised to £3,120 due to a large extension. Originally L-plan, the subsequent additions to the school made it into a quadrangle.

In September 2007 Lisneal College opened on a new site as an amalgamation of Clondermott High School and Faughan Valley High School. Since then the Faughan Valley site has lain dormant though there have been various proposals for its reuse. In October 2013 the site suffered fire damage.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI Valuers and Revaluation Binders, Faughan Ward, Drumahoe townland, 1956-75 – VAL/4/C/6/3/15/5
2. NIEA First Survey record – HB01/06/016
3. NIEA HB Records – HB01/06/016

Secondary Sources
1. Belfast Telegraph, 26 June 1959

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
E. Spatial Organisation
G. Innovatory Qualities
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

An asymmetrical school built c.1958 to designs in the ‘International Modern’ style by Noel Campbell and located on the west side of Drumahoe Road. The original L-shaped building comprises various storey heights of rendered block walls with steel windows and flat roofs arranged on a linear plan form, now substantially extended and incorporating two internal courtyards. Although later additions to some extent compromise its architectural integrity, the school remains one of the best examples of its type from the post-war period, when economical construction was a necessity and innovative design solutions led to greater efficiency. The interplay of two and three storey volumes demonstrate a planned three-dimensional relationship between the spaces with a system of proportion that is consistently rigorous inside and out. Large expanses of curtain glazing, pilotis and a restrained use of sandstone cladding provide strong modernist references and whilst the building is deliberately simple and without decoration, a few key organic elements such as the entrance canopy, the timber clad curved water tank on the roof and the stairwell ballustrading lift the design above basic functionality. As an intact example of a school by an architect who was noted for the modern idiom in which he worked, this building is somewhat rare. It also has important social value for the local community.

General comments

The principal elevation faces south-east, for ease of description this is referred to as south and the naming of all other façades follows this convention.