Bangor Grammar School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical multi-bay two- and three-storey Edwardian school, built by Hutchinson Keith in 1906 to a free-style design by Ernest L Woods, with later additions; situated to the west of College Avenue near Bangor town centre. Irregular on plan with three-stage projecting castellated clock tower and full-height box bay to front; 1914 extension to north known as Crosby House (originally the headmaster’s house) designed by Young & Mackenzie; flat-roof extension to south built 1960 to designs by H.A Patton. Two small flat-roof extensions to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with Dutch gables and series of rectangular chimneystacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is pebble dashed with Doulting stone dressings and kneelers; quoins to clock tower; Crosby house is roughcast render. Windows are mainly 1/2 timber casements in stone surrounds (some mullioned) with chamfered sills.

The principal elevation faces east, comprising; two windows to each floor (one to right at first floor) of central projecting bay; bay with two windows to each floor; diamond motif to gable. To left is projecting clock tower with crenellated parapet once surmounted by a timbered cupola-roofed belfry with weathervane (now lost): Two windows to ground floor; single window to first floor level; to final stage is a central stone panel with clock, to either side of which is small window. Flagpole to top of tower. To right cheek are two windows; to left cheek are two windows and fire exit to ground floor. To left is gabled bay with three windows to second floor; three smaller openings to second floor (one blank); to ground floor is projecting canopy on two slender masonry columns; abutted to left by modern single-storey extension (of no interest).

The south elevation (partially concealed) has windows to first floor; abutted to ground floor by modern extension.

The west (rear) elevation is seven openings wide; fire exit to right at first floor; ground floor abutted to right by single-storey flat-roof extension. Projecting gabled bay to right with three openings to each floor. To left is Crosby House (1914) with six openings to first floor; ground floor has to left-of-centre a small projecting bay; abutted at ground floor by single-storey flat-roof extension; to left is window; to right is a modern timber door with transom light and two windows. Three skylights to roof.
The north elevation has a centred single opening to all three floors.

Setting

Set in a suburban street surrounded by mainly Edwardian houses, connecting Ballyholme Road to Shandon Drive. Open to the street to east with boundary marked by a group of mature trees. To rear is modern sports hall (1987) and technology centre (1990) with car park and playing field, enclosed by mature hedgerow and trees.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Pebbledash / roughcast
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The school is first shown as ‘Bangor Endowed School’ on the fourth edition map of 1919-26 and enters valuation records in 1907. The Endowed School was built on land leased from Lady Clanmorris and was valued at £80 and £2.5s for playing fields. In 1915 a ‘principal’s house’ was added to the description and this brought the valuation up to £100. (Annual Revisions)

In May 1905, the Irish Builder announced the proposal ‘to erect an endowed school in Bangor’, the designs having been prepared by Ernest Lucius Woods, Bangor’s town surveyor. “In designing the school, provision has been made for future extension should the necessity arise. The exterior is of a style most adaptable for a building of this class, the windows are mullioned, the top portion being made to open and special attention has been given to the complete ventilation of the entire school. The walls will be finished in rough cast of natural cement colour, and with Doulting stone dressings. The handsome tower, surmounted with a bell turret, forms the principal feature of the façade. On the ground floor is a large hall, suitable for examinations and other special purposes, a reception room, and two large classrooms; and on the upper floor is a fine laboratory and three other good-sized classrooms and a room for the use of the masters. Ample cloakroom and lavatory accommodation have also been provided”. In February 1906 the Irish Builder again reported on the building of the new school and confirmed that the tender of contractor, Mr Hutchinson Keeth [sic] of Glenravel Street, Belfast had been accepted. (Irish Builder)

The school was first established in 1856 on a site in Main Street now occupied by the Bank of Ireland (HB23/05/028) and this earlier building is shown in a photograph held by the North Down Heritage Centre. (Haines, p.54) The school was built as the result of a bequest by Robert Ward in his will of 1831 which left £1000 “for building and endowing a school for the education of boys in Mathematics, Astronomy and Navigation, so as to qualify them as masters of foreign vessels.” (Patton, p.56) The Main Street building was in use until 1901 and the school was then housed in a variety of temporary buildings until a bequest by W K Crosby made it possible to build a new school in 1906. In 1914 a Headmaster’s residence was added to the north of the school to designs by Young and Mackenzie. After the Second World War, the residence was incorporated into the school as additional classrooms and offices. (www.bangorgrammarschool.org.uk)

It is not known when the school’s name changed to ‘Bangor Grammar School’ but it appears to have been known as Bangor Endowed School up to at least the beginning of the Second World War, being marked as such on an OS map of 1939.

As demand for places at the school increased, the Governors embarked on several phases of expansion during the sixties and early seventies, including a flat-roofed extension of 1960 by H A Patton (Patton, p.56). In 1987 a sports hall was built and in 1990 a design and technology centre. In the mid-nineties new classroom accommodation was built for the History, Maths and Geography departments and two large computer suites were constructed. A Science and Technology building was opened in 2002 and in 2003 the original school building was refurbished and modernised internally. (www.bangorgrammarschool.org.uk)

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
2.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
3.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/9A-S – Annual Revisions (1900-1930)
4.Irish Builder 47, 16 December 1905, p.914
5.Irish Builder 48, 24 February 1906, p.130

Secondary Sources

1.Haines, K “North Down Memories, Photographs 1860s-1960s” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000
2.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999
3.www.bangorgrammarschool.org.uk – Bangor Grammar School website

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Bangor Grammar is an asymmetrical multi-bay two- and three-storey Edwardian school, built by Hutchinson Keith in 1905 to designs by Ernest L Woods, extended to the north in 1914 (extension known as Crosby House) to designs by Young & Mackenzie and to the south in 1960 to designs by H.A Patton. The cupola that once topped the clock tower has been lost and the original design has been much altered with subsequent additions and a large modern extension to the rear. Although of some local importance, the extensive alterations have compromised its architectural and historic interest. There are better examples of Woods work, notably the Arts-and-Craft style Carnegie Library on Hamilton Road(HB23/05/006) and the house at 32 Maxwell Road(HB23/14/013) designed as his private residence.