Details
TQ 3181 SW BOLT COURT
627/7/10217 (North side)
26-MAY-00 6
II
Former School of Illustrated Printing (Central London Institute), now Adult Education Centre, 1912, London County Council Architect W. E. Riley. Dark red brick, English Bond with stucco dressings, tiled roof with 2 levels of dormers. 'L' block plan, with stair in left corner giving access to 2 main classrooms on each floor. Part-framed structure, with cased columns and girders internally. 5 bay main facade, with taller single bay, containing stair, at left. 4 storeys and attics, over basement, William and Mary style of late C17. Ground floor has central entrance, above stone steps, bridging front area. Twin leaf hardwood doors, each with 3 raised and fielded panels, with fanlight above, moulded architraves and carved and moulded shell door hood carried on foliated consoles. Small-paned metal casement windows in mullion and transom hardwood frames, rubbed brick arches with stucco keystones above, those on ground floor tied in to stucco band above, brick plat band above second floor windows, moulded stucco cornice above third floor windows. Irregular spacing, 1 : 2 : 2, left to right. Windows in left hand, stair, bay larger, 3 lights width by 3 lights height, with triple keystones; bullseye light to top storey tank room. Iron railings, with scrollwork flanking entrance, on Portland stone curb around perimeter of basement area, which is lined with light-green glazed brick.
Interior
Ground floor lobby and entrance hall have shallow quadripartite plaster vaulted ceilings, and segmental arches. Wood panelled walls, full height, with half-glazed doors to former principal's office and general office, glazed screen with sash windows to enquiry office, floors of brown and buff ceramic tiles in cross and chequer pattern. Stair to basement, open well, hardwood, newels, closed string, column-on-bobbin balusters, moulded handrail and newel caps, panelled dado, segmental plaster vault over. Corridor through building to main stair to upper floors has similar finishes to entrance hall. Half-glazed wood screen and doors to stair. Stone treads, with hardwood facings, on case carriage beams, iron balusters, stick and twist pattern, moulded hardwood handrail, ramped at each floor, tiled dado, with hardwood moulding above. Lecture room and classrooms generally have wood block floors, tiled dados, and cased-beamed ceilings. One main classroom (sometimes subdivided) at front, and one at rear (some with small individual craft or preparation rooms). On third floor front classroom spanned by portal frames, one arched, one cranked. Continuous glazing at rear (north), with sloping patent-glazed rooflight above. Fourth floor has former caretaker's flat, now offices. 2-panelled doors, fireplaces with wood surrounds, and Dutch-tiled surrounds to cast-iron grates.
History
Bolt Court is part of a network of alleys and courts north of Fleet Street, reflecting the mediaeval urban form of the City of London. The concentration of the newspaper offices along Fleet Street in the early C20 led the LCC to build a Technical School for printing operations, with a speciality in illustrative techniques.
[Pevsner N., rev. Bradley, S., 'Buildings of England' London 1: The City of London, 1997, pp. 502-3]
