Nettlefield Primary School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A modern primary school comprising single and two-storey blocks arranged in a quadrangle and a two-storey caretaker’s house, all built to the designs of Education Architect Reginald S. Wilshere 1933-36. Located at the end of Radnor Street of the Woodstock Road in East Belfast.

Hipped rosemary tile roof; cast-iron RWG with decorative hopper-heads; brick chimney. Red-brick walling laid to Flemish bond; moulded plinth course; parapet eaves (largely repaired c.2000); overhanging eaves with plain timber soffits and fascia boards. Timber casement windows with horizontal glazing bars; bronze ironmongery. Timber double-leaf front door with single large recessed panel; replacement ironmongery.

The principal elevation faces north and is asymmetrically arranged, comprising a two storey façade with a predominant entrance tower rising above parapet level. The entrance tower is a symmetrical projected single-bay square plan flat-roof tower; double leaf doors centrally located at ground floor with moulded surrounds and a cantilevered step-moulded canopy with three-tiered diminished projected planes over, separated by horizontal glazed strips. Diminished window with semi-octagonal canopy and metal balcony over brick corbel at first floor level. Carved sandstone crest depicting a horse and seahorse embracing a coat of arms with “NETTLEFIELD P(ublic) E(lementary) SCHOOL” below. Three narrow vertical openings to the upper portion of the east and west cheeks with a single casement window to the south. The tower is surmounted by a timber lantern, reputed to replicate a Scandinavian-style light house. Right of the tower is a flat roof double bay with single and quadripartite windows to the ground and first floor. Left of the tower is a two-storey flat-roof corridor projected beyond the hipped roof, comprising a uniform series of thirteen double-leaf doors with round headed fanlights with vertical glazing bars, flanked by a pair of single windows at ground floor level; seven uniformly arranged quadripartite windows to the first floor. The far right of the façade is abutted by a single-storey entrance porch, with bi-partite window over, adjoining the detached double height hipped roof with parapet assembly hall; the east and west facades comprising arrow-head projecting bay-windows (some windows removed on east façade due to modern single-storey extension). The north façade of the assembly hall comprises a truncated version of the principal entrance rising only to the balcony level; projecting from an otherwise blank elevation.

The east elevation asymmetrically arranged; single storey; recessed portion to the right with single, quadripartite windows and double leaf door with single canopy. Replacement doors and windows infilling former openings to the left; far left abutted by modern extension.

The south elevation is symmetrically arranged; hipped roof, five bay. Each bay comprises a timber double-leaf door accessing the playground embraced by vertical timber casement windows with continuous cill, rising from six courses of brick-work, creating a largely glazed façade.

The west façade is asymmetrically arranged. Single storey flat-roof portion to the right; replacement windows and doors infilling former openings; far right abutted by modern extension. The left hand side comprises a projected single-storey bay with tripartite louvered vents with further two-storey flat-roofed bay; louvered door with single canopy over with diminished balcony window to first floor.

Quadrangle: The south elevation of the north block comprises five bays; vertical casement windows to ground and first floor with centrally located double-leaf doors to ground floor; far left comprise flat-roofed two-storey portion with single-door (now infilled) at ground floor with two bi-partite windows at first floor; chimney left. The facades to the west and east blocks are single-storey, formerly open cloisters prior to infilling with glazing and central door c.1960. The south block façade projects at ground floor level with a flat-roofed corridor with similar infilling to side blocks; with clerestory glazing over.

Setting:

The overall
setting is two-storey residential terraces. At the entrance is a two-storey hipped-roofed L-shaped casretaker’s house matching in detailing with some internal plaster and joinery work of interest; some alterations have taken place and it has suffered from water damage (2010). To the south of the school are artificial sports pitches. To the east is a single-storey nursery c.1960. Modern access ramps to the entrances. Lawn to the front. Modern ramp with walling, railings added to principal entrance and east elevation of school.

Roofing: Rosemary tiles/flat roof
Walling: Red brick
Windows: Timber casement
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Northern Ireland Ministry of Education files records that the construction of Nettlefield Primary School was necessitated due to the closure of Grovefield and Short Strand Junior Schools which were deemed unsuitable. In the late 1920s the Belfast Education Committee (established under the 1923 Education Act) began planning construction of a new school which could accommodate the 600 pupils displaced by these schools closure; a plot was purchased in 1930 at the cost of £2,300, this was previously the site of Nettlefield Mansion, a former home of the Lewis family which until its demolition operated as a Working Boys Home (Belfast Telegraph – 19 Aug 1932). The estimated building cost was £20,880, while the construction of the school building itself was estimated at £13,729; building tenders were submitted to the committee, the lowest of which, £17,395 was submitted by J & R. W. Taggart who were contracted as builders.

Nettlefield Primary School was constructed between 1934 and 1936; 11 classrooms were constructed designed to accommodate 800 pupils rather than the 600 originally intended (PRONI). The Northern Whig noted that Nettlefield was opened 9 September 1936 by Alderman James A. Duff, the Chairman of the Finance Corporation; the writer described the building as the 18th new school constructed by the Belfast Corporation since it took over Education in 1923 and that ‘it is probably the best constructed so far under the progressive policy of the Education Committee’ (Northern Whig, 10 September 1936).

The Irish Builder records that Nettlefield Primary School and the caretaker’s house situated by the entrance were designed by Reginald Sharman Wilshere (1888-1961), a Belfast based English architect who had been appointed by the Belfast Education Committee as its chief architect in 1926 and designed 26 schools before the outbreak of the Second World War; the Irish Builder recorded that ‘Wilshere’s own idea ... is that if the children of a district have no beauty in their daily surroundings, they need beauty all the more in their schools.’ Wilshere’s technique was to construct large schools along quadrangles with corridors opened to fresh air. Nettlefield is a fine example of this type and includes a number aesthetic architectural features (including the timber lantern above the tower which was inspired by Scandinavian lighthouses), however the corridor walls facing the quadrangle have had their cloister-like openings filled in with modern windows c. 1960 (Irish Builder, Vol. 74, 26 March 1932, p. 284; Vol. 76, 16 June 1934, p. 417; Vol. 78, 17 October 1936, pp 923-3).

Nettlefield Primary School has continued to operate for over 75 years and was listed in 1994; Larmour suggests that Reginald Wilshere’s schools including Nettlefield and Avoniel Primary School (HB26/06/010) were ‘the first modern schools to be built anywhere in Ireland’ (Larmour, p. 84). Nettlefield is also culturally notable as the primary school of George Best (1946-2005) who was educated there and Harry Patterson (b. 1929), an author who is better known under his pseudonym Jack Higgins.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-21
2. PRONI OS/6/3/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1931
3. PRONI ED/13/1/1183 - Ministry of Education Files: Proposed new public elementary school at Nettlefield, Woodstock Road, Belfast (1927-1939).
4. Irish Builder - Vol. 74, 26 March 1932; Vol. 76, 16 June 1934; Vol. 78, 17 October 1936.
5. Belfast Telegraph (1932)
6. Northern Whig (1936)

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.
2. First Survey Record – HB26/06/011 (1991).

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A modern,for the period, primary school comprising single and two-storey blocks arranged in a quadrangle and a two-storey caretaker’s house, all built to the designs of Education Architect Reginald S. Wilshere 1933-36. Erected at a time of educational reform, the external appearance and internal layout of the school are of significant interest, displaying high quality design, exemplified in the distinct style and proportions of this period. The external fabric and character has remained substantially unaltered although with only minimal alterations which do not substantially detract from the character. Internally the layout has remained unaltered which is a significant part of the character of the building. Some room uses have changed, however much of the original fabric and detailing survives.

The caretaker’s house has also retained much of its character making a positive contribution to the setting and group value of the school. The school has an important social role within the local area, having replaced and improved the facilities provided by several inadequate smaller schools at the beginning of the 20th century. The architect is a renowned designer of many of the Belfast schools erected during this period, including Avoniel (HB26/06/010) and McQuiston (HB26/30/089). Of significant historical interest and architectural interest, the building is also of considerable social interest, both locally and in the wider context of Northern Ireland.