Kingswood School

Details

LANSDOWN ROAD (West side) Kingswood School 05/08/75 II

School. 1850-1852, with major extension in 1882-1883. By James Wilson, for the Methodist Church, the extension by James Wilson and E Hoole. MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar, slate roofs with paired octagonal shafts to moulded stacks. PLAN: H-plan. EXTERIOR: Three storeys and basement, originally symmetrical eleven-window range, Tudor style, with later C19 chapel to front right wing. Parapet castellated to front, cornice, first floor sill band and plinth encircle building which has leaded windows to three central bays and fronts of outer wings. Central tower in four stages: tall castellated parapet with pierced Gothic panels to merlons, bosses and gargoyles to cornice of upper stage over label mould to pointed arched three-light window with shields to aprons, shallow third stage offset above and below with clock to centre, tall second stage flanked by offset buttresses, has label mould to three-light window over tall mullioned and transomed three-light canted oriel window with similar but smaller parapet, vertical panels to double Tudor arched oak doors under wide label mould with foliate spandrels. Slightly projecting bays flanking tower have diagonal buttresses to outer quoins, forward facing gables with copper finials and shields to apexes have coped parapets stepped above quoins. Labels of hoodmoulds of two-light second floor windows continue as cornices to wings. Slightly projecting rectangular bays below have four narrow windows, each with quatrefoil in circle to parapet, two central windows project to form triangular plan. Three-bay castellated wings, articulated by gargoyles to cornice and ornamented rainwater heads, have two-light windows to upper floors, some with margin panes, and three-light mullioned and transomed windows to ground floor. Projecting side wings are similar to bays flanking tower but larger with angle buttresses, stone lion finials holding copper vanes, and quatrefoils in recessed diagonal panels to apexes. Two storey bay windows are canted with four-light mullioned and transomed windows and sills formed by high plinth on sloping sight. Returns of wings have three windows to inner facades and four windows to outer. Sills of first floor windows extend below sill string which forms transoms. No ground floor windows. Projecting farther forward from right hand wing has two storey, two-window wing with bay similar to that of left hand wing. Rear is similar but simpler in style with additions of 1890. INTERIOR: Gothic panelled doors; the hall has a rib-vaulted ceiling with bosses, a polychromatic tile floor and painted inner doors similar to those on the exterior; the stair hall has a panelled ceiling with bosses and a cast iron balustrade to the stairs; other rooms have original fireplaces and high moulded skirtings. The dining hall is said to have a gallery and large brackets to ceiling beams. HISTORY: Kingswood School was founded by John Wesley in 1746, and was opened for fifty children in Kingswood near Bristol in 1748. The contract price for the new building in Bath was £8000, but the eventual price was £12000, with the result that the chapel (qv) was not built until 1920. It was built with hot air heating, the flues venting through the 82ft high tower. SOURCES: (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 215; Jackson N: Nineteenth Century Bath - Architects and Architecture: Bath: 1991-: 199).

Listing NGR: ST7435866730

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

509831

Legacy System:

LBS

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