Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/48/005

Address :
Currie Primary School 111-113 Limestone Road Belfast Co. Antrim BT15 3AB

Townland:
Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
09/02/1994 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
School

Former Use
School

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-9NE

IG Ref:
J3363 7620

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Owner Category

Education Board

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached symmetrical single-storey over partial basement school constructed of red brick with reconstituted stone dressings in 1930, to the designs of R.S. Wilshire. Quadrangular on plan, the main entrance faces south with double-height hall to the centre of the internal courtyard. Set back slightly on the north side of Limestone Road within its own paved ground enclosed by iron railings. Hipped terracotta pantile roof and terracotta ridge tiles. Parapet wall to front only. Original moulded cast-iron guttering to timber boxed eaves with decorative cast-iron box hoppers and cast-iron downpipes. Redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with cement pointing and moulded reconstituted stone frieze, projecting cornice and plinth courses. Square-headed window openings with moulded lintels and sills. Original multi-pane timber casement windows arranged in groups with concrete surrounds and steel security grilles (unless otherwise stated). South Elevation Seven bays in total with three equal width bays arranged symmetrically either side of an advanced entrance bay. Continuous moulded frieze and cornice below raise brick parapet with bitumen dressed over the coping with a shallow brick pier separating each bay. The entrance bay is advanced by two shallow steps forward with the front parapet wall rising to form a truncated gable framed with reconstituted stone pedimented coping. Doorcase comprises; square-headed door opening recessed to the plane of the facade flanked by Doric pilasters and corresponding Doric columns supporting the stepped frieze. Rising from the stepped frieze is a semi-circular overlight formed in reconstituted stone voussoirs with panelled soffit surrounding a multi-pane timber thermal fanlight and applied steel lettering; ‘CURRIE PRIMARY SCHOOL’. Replacement double-leaf timber panelled doors with moulded architrave surmounted by a painted cartouche and opening onto raised platform with replacement granite paving and six nosed granite steps with access ramp and stainless steel rails to the west. Slender ten-pane sidelights flank the entrance. Windows to the front elevation are arranged into groups of five, framed in moulded reconstituted stone, with a three-part window separated by a single window either side of a mullion. Symmetrical west wing is connected to the front wing by a flat-roofed corner block and has three principal bays with three pairs of windows each. To either end is a single window opening with decorative architrave surmounted by a hood cornice embellished with a swag frieze. Three basement windows are exposed to the north end having paired six-pane timber casement windows. The symmetrical north wing is articulated as a two-storey elevation, seven windows wide. Abutting the west end is a stair tower with a timber glazed entrance screen to the lower level and a further flat-roofed accretion with glazed bricks. The east end is abutted by a two-storey corridor connecting to a 1960s wing. The windows to the rear wing are arranged in groups of five framed by full-height piers rising from a plinth course. To the centre bay between upper and lower levels is a moulded reconstituted stone panel with applied gilt digits ‘1930’ and a central disc depicting an urn. Symmetrical east wing is also articulated as a two-storey elevation with three principal bays, each having three pairs of windows with moulded surrounds framed by full-height brick pilasters. To either end is a slender recessed bay with a single brick balconette to the south end at first floor level. To the north end is a square plan brick chimney. A further flat-roofed corner block connects the east wing to the south wing. To the rear of the front wing is a two-storey block connecting to the double-height Assembly Hall set within the internal courtyard. The internal elevations to all wings are generally two-storey flat-roofed corridor abutments with felt roofs. Formerly open corridors they are currently glazed with tripartite timber framed windows and opague coloured spandrel panels below. Canted two-storey bay within block to rear of entrance (internal courtyard looking west). The rear wing has segmental-headed window openings to the lower level with fixed-pane timber glazed screens. The Assembly Hall is connected to the rear wing via a two-storey flat-roofed stair wing with later flat-roofed extensions infilling the northeast and southwest. The Assembly Hall has a half-hipped roof, red brick walling laid in English garden wall bond and round-headed window openings with multi-pane bipartite timber casement windows and spoked fanlights. Roof : Terracotta pantiles RWG: Cast-iron Walling: Red brick with reconstituted stone dressings Windows: Multi-pane timber casement Setting: Located on an extensive bitmac paved site, sloping down to the north, enclosed by original steel railings on low brick plinth wall to the south and west and enclosed by a tall red brick wall to the east. The site is enclosed to the north by an L-shaped plan, three-storey grey brick and sheet-steel clad wing with a flat roof, built c.1960. The original dwarf brick boundary wall with railings over is intact at the W and S frontages. The entrance gate screen sits on a curved brick plinth wall between twin brick pillars with moulded caps which lead to the principal entrance via double-leaf iron gates and decorative wrought-iron surround surmounted by an iron urn finial.

Architects

Wilshere, R S

Historical Information

The Currie Primary School, a redbrick one-and-two-storey school located on the Limestone Road, was constructed in 1927-30. Following the establishment of the Belfast Education Committee (formed after the Partition of Ireland by the 1923 Education Act) a number of new and modern public elementary schools were built throughout Belfast replacing the inadequate church and national schools that previously predominated. The school was originally known as Mountcollyer Public Elementary School and was constructed on land that had been y used for a pottery factory. The Limestone Road area was originally laid out as a tramway to transport stone from the Cave Hill quarries to the Belfast Docks at the bottom of the hill on the York Road. By the end of the 19th century, housing had been developed along the Limestone Road and a public park (Alexandra Park) established. The construction of a modern public elementary school was necessitated by the increase in the local population and the poor quality of local schools in the surrounding area. The new public elementary school was designed by the Belfast Education Committee’s architect Reginald Sharman Wilshere. A Belfast-based English planner, Wilshere (1888-1961) was appointed architect to the Belfast Education Committee in 1926 and designed 26 new schools in the city before the outbreak of the Second World War. The Irish Builder wrote 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.’ In 1932 the Belfast Newsletter included a quote by Wilshere who stated that ‘every one of [my schools] has something distinctive about it architecturally, though all follow the same line in planning, and in that respect are in conformity with the best modern practice.’ Wilshire’s typical technique was to construct large schools along quadrangles with corridors open to the air and Larmour states that ‘these were the first modern schools to be built anywhere in Ireland. In regards appearance they range from the Neo-Georgian to the outright modernistic’ (Irish Builder, pp 1089-1091; Larmour, p.84). The Mountcollyer Public Elementary School is one of Wilshere’s earliest school having been designed in 1927. It is a typical example of Wilshere’s work and displays a number of classical features. The Listing File for the school described it in the following terms: ‘A modern single and double storey building in rustic brick with reconstituted stone dressings and hipped roofs of red Roman tiles laid out on a quadrangular plan with a central rectangular assembly hall between two courts. Its most attractive features are the Roman Doric columned front entrance doorway surmounted by a fanlight in the shape of a Diocletian window, and the fine street-front wrought-iron gateway with an overhead screen depicting an urn supported on scrolls, through which the entrance is approached’ (Listing file). The Irish builder records that Mountcollyer Public Elementary School was constructed by J. & R. W. Taggart and that the school was opened in 1930 (Irish Builder, p. 716; DIA). The fourth edition Ordnance Survey map (1931) depicted the school along its current layout suggesting that few (if any) significant structural changes had been made to the school complex since the 1930s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the school was set at £800. The only major addition to the school was the construction of the three-storey L-shaped extension to the north-east side of original quadrangle in c. 1967. In that year the value of the school was increased to £3,200. Mountcollyer Primary School became known as Currie Primary School by at least the 1990s. The valuation sources record that a school, known as the Currie School (named after a prominent local businessman) was located on Mervue Street in the 1960s in Donegall Street Congregational Church’s former hall. Currie Primary School was listed in 1994. The NIEA HB Records note that a new entrance lobby and lift were installed in the school in 1999 (NIEA HB Records). Resources Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901-02) 2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1931) 3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1938) 4. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/12- First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-72) 5. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/16 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) 6. Irish Builder (16 Aug 1930) 7. Belfast Newsletter (25 Apr 1932; 13 Aug 1932) 8. Ulster Town Directories (1918-1943) 9. First Survey Record – HB26/48/005 (1993) 10. Listing File – HB26/48/005 11. NIEA HB Records – HB26/48/005 Secondary Sources 1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form G. Innovatory Qualities H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity V. Authorship Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical single-storey over partial basement school, built from red brick with reconstituted stone dressings in 1930, to the designs of R.S. Wilshere as one of a number of new and modern public elementary schools developed throughout Belfast following the establishment of the Belfast Education Committee by the 1923 Education Act. Quadrangular on plan with classrooms dispersed along the outer walls and accessed via cloisters that were originally intended to be open to the air at internal courtyards. The principal entrance faces south with a double-height hall to the centre of the internal courtyard. This purpose-built school represents a period of building in the 1920s and 1930s that employed Neo-classical elements in civic buildings. Wilshere was adept at applying proportion and symmetry to provide a coherent and legible building with an emphasis on well-being and a connection to the outdoors; this is one of his earlier schools. The original plan form is logical and intuitive and despite the addition of later extensions and the enclosure of corridor openings, the building has retained its balance of well-lit spaces employed alongside an economical use of materials and simple repetition. Classical detailing around the doorcase provides a dignified public facade while the retention of most original fabric both internally and externally make this building exemplary. The distinctive curved gate screen and much of the perimeter walling is still intact.

General Comments

Date of Survey

02 May 2014