Euston Street Primary School, Euston Street, Belfast, Co Down BT6 9AG

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large, mainly single storey hipped roof, red brick primary school of 1925 by W.G. Davies, generally utilitarian but with two storey somewhat neo-Georgian entrance bay. The building is figure of eight in plan with accommodation is grouped around two open-air quadrangles. The school is situated to the west of the Castlereagh Road, and was originally surrounded typical Belfast terrace houses. Much of the surrounding buildings were recently demolished.

To the centre of the E elevation is the symmetrical, two storey, hipped roof entrance bay. The double, half glazed, front door is at the head of a short flight of steps. Directly over is a distinctive fanlight with (Roman-like) ‘X’ motif with margin panes. The stone dressing to the surround has a stylised keystone bears the date 1925. Directly over is a 9-pane (Georgian-like panes)window with a small top hung light. Directly over is a colourful bas-relief carved (City of Belfast) coat of arms. The doors and window sit in a slightly recessed stone panel which rises above the parapet. This panel is flanked with plain stone pilasters. To either side of the door is a canted two storey, flat roofed, bay. The windows to the bays appear to be original steel (Crittal type) steel windows set in a timber sub-frame. Those to the front face have 3/6 with the upper opener being top hung. Those to the side are1/2 with the upper being top hung. The bays are dressed in a plain sandstone. To either side and between the bays and the central door arrangement the walls are plain red brick.

This central section has a hipped roof covered with natural slate and has a tall plain chimney stack to either side. To the centre of the ridge is a tall square fleche. This is finished in timber and lead sheet.

To the left of the entrance bay are four large windows each comprising of two frames. Each frame has three tall windows with 2/6 the upper being top hung lights. Each steel frame set in timber sub-frames. Each window is separated from its neighbour by a slender brick pier. (Windows to the entire school – except were noted otherwise – appear to be original.). The piers which denote the edge of each classroom rise above the eaves. This breaks the line of the ogee gutter thus necessitating numerous rw down pipes with decorative rw heads. The wall below the sills is in brick. To the far left the end bay projects forward slightly. This has a central stone panel with a simple square motif to the base over which is a window 3/6/3. The top light is top hung while that to the bottom is bottom hung. Above the window is a simplified carved coat of arms. This bay has a high parapet. Top either side of the window is a 3/6/3 window , as before. The bay is framed with shallow ‘pilasters’. Above and below the windows to the side is a slightly recessed panel in the brickwork. The right of the entrance bay is as per the left.

To the right side of the S elevation is a projecting bay. To the ground level are three rendered panels. These are in fact bricked up windows to a semi basement. Above this are three 3/6/3 windows as before. This section has a hipped roof. The centre recessed bay has a small flat roofed porch to either side. The doors sit at the head of short flights of steps and each has a stone dressing with keystone; above that to the left is a small inscribed panel – that to the left reads ‘Boys’. Between the entrances are nine 3/6 double frame windows with brick piers and rendered panels below, all as before. To the centre of the main roof is a plain chimneystack without pots. To the far left is a projecting bay which matches that to the right.

To the right of the W elevation is a bay with seven 3/6 windows with rendered panels below. This bay has a hipped roof. To the centre (and larger section) are seven double frames which comprising three 3/6 windows. As before these windows each have a brick pier to separate it from its neighbour but in this instance the piers do not rise above the eaves. To the far right is a small projecting hipped roof bay which is slightly lower than before. To the S face is a small 2/2 window while to the W face is a window with double 2/2 frames; all have a top opener.

To the right side of the N elevation is a recent flat roofed extension which projects forward slightly. To the right side there are six evenly spaced high level pivot windows. The W face of this extension is blank. The E face has a modern glazed door screen with glazed margins. The N face of original projecting bay is obscured by this extension but still retains its hipped roof. To the left of this is wide section with nine evenly spaced windows each with double 2/6 frames the upper ‘2’ being top openers. Shallow pilasters which rise above the eaves level to frame a small carved stone plaque which reads ‘Euston St. Senior P.E. School’ flank the centre window. This raised panel has a vaguely Art Deco feel. To the far right is a further projecting bay. To the N face are three evenly spaced 3/6/3 windows, as before. To the W there is a small flat roofed porch. The door has a stone surround with an inscribed panel over which reads ‘Girls’. To the W face of the porch is a ?recently added canopy which is supported on a metal pole. This porch and the flat roofed extension to the right side each sport anti-climbing devices which appear as ‘spiky rollers’.

To the centre off the complex is a general purpose assembly hall / gym which rises higher than the classroom blocks. The classrooms and corridors are grouped around this to form two courtyards one to the N and one to the S. Circulation around the complex was mainly around the inner edges of the courtyards and originally these were in fact covered but open side walkways. In recent times these have been sheeted over to create enclosed corridors.

S Courtyard. The N face comprises the side of the assembly hall and has seven window openings each with paired 2/6 frames as before. To the far right is a small single storey section with two small windows. The remaining three sides all have enclosed corridors. The lower portion of these walls are panelled while the upper portion has modern glazing. At the rear and rising above each corridor is the side wall of classrooms with ‘clerestory’ windows – all with paired 2/2 frames. Below the corridor on the S side there are high level windows which light the semi basement. At the time of the survey work was in progress to re-surface the courtyard.

N Courtyard. The S face comprises the S face of the assembly hall. To the left side is a small flat roof projection with three windows. To the E face is a sheeted double door arrangement. To the upper level are a series of clerestory windows. To the far left (actually above the corridor) is a ‘linking’ block which extends to the rear of the two storey e entrance section. This has a window with paired frame. The E and W faces of the courtyard each have covered corridors with clerestory lights to classrooms, all as before. To the S face are three classrooms each with large window with six 2/4/2 frames and each with a separating pier. To the far right is a small window with paired 2/4 frames. This courtyard is used as for the nursery children.

Historical information

Along with that in Templemore Avenue, Euston Street was the first of the new ‘Elementary’ schools to be opened in Northern Ireland following the passing of the 1923 Education Act. It was designed by William George Davies, a [? Yorkshire-born] architect who served as Architect to the Belfast Education Committee from 1924-26. The foundation stone was laid on 21 January 1925, and the building – ‘vastly superior [to any school] previously erected in Ulster’ - formally opened on 10 July 1926. The construction work was carried out at a cost of ‘about £30,000’, although another contemporary estimate states that it was around £35,000.

The building has witnessed relatively little alteration, apart from small extensions to the north-western corner and the northern side of the assembly hall, both of which were added post-1968. The inner corridors, originally open, have been enclosed, but the date of this change is not known. The original railings were removed at some point after March 2001.

References- Primary sources
1 HERoNI FIN 7-007 Plans of ‘Elementary School at Euston St’ by W.G. Davies (1924)
2 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 22 January 1925, p.9
3 ‘Irish Builder’, 6 February 1926
4 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 3 July 1926
5 ‘Ballymena Weekly Telegraph’, 10 July 1926
6 ‘Larne Times’, 10 July 1926
7 ‘Northern Whig’, 23 August 1926
8 OS maps and town plans of Belfast 1931, 1938, 1956, 1968, 1986

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A large, mainly single storey, hipped roof, red brick and sandstone primary school of 1925 by W.G. Davies, with a distinctive canted two-storey neo-Georgian entrance bay. Along with that in Templemore Avenue, this school is the earliest of its type in Northern Ireland, and remains largely original but inside and out, retaining its figure of eight plan with the classroom accommodation grouped around two open-air quadrangles, separated by a central assembly hall.