HANOVER PRIMARY SCHOOL HERITAGE STATEMENT

Author: Mark Sanderson

Reviewed by: Chris Thomas

Finance code: MT006

Date: December 2010

Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

Contents

1.0 Introduction P.1

2.0 Planning Framework P.4

3.0 Historic Background P.6

4.0 The Conservation Area P.13

5.0 The Listed Building P.17

6.0 Proposals & Impacts P.21

7.0 Summary P.24

8.0 Sources P.25

Figures

Cover: Hanover Primary School, North Elevation

Fig 1 Location Plan, Hanover Primary School Fig 2 Duncan Terrace & Colebrooke Row Conservation Area Fig 3 Roque‟s Map of 1746 Fig 4 Greenwood‟s Map of 1824-6 Fig 5 St Mary Islington Tithe Map, 1848 Fig 6 1871 OS Map Fig 7 1894-6 OS Map Fig 8 1932 OS Map Fig 9 Hanover Primary School, Front Elevation, 1933 Fig 10 Hanover Primary School, Rear Elevation, 1933 Fig 11 1954 OS Map Fig 12 Regent‟s Canal, entrance to Islington Tunnel (Cosh 2005) Fig 13 Hanover Primary School Fig 14 The Island Queen Fig 15 Noel Road (North Side) Fig 16 Noel Road (South Side) Fig 17 Noel Road (view west) Fig 18 City Road Basin, from Rooftop Playground Fig 19 Rooftop Playground Fig 20 Rooftop Shelters

Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

Fig 21 Noel Road Elevation Fig 22 Single-Banked Classrooms Fig 23 Corbelled Projection and Date Plaque Fig 24 Interspersed Fenestration and Floral Plaques Fig 25 Boy‟s Entrance Fig 26 Girl‟s Entrance Fig 27 Parquet Flooring Fig 28 Dado Tiling & Internal Glazing Fig 29 Stairwell Balustrade Fig 30 Brave Deeds Board

Appendix 1 Advice Report & List Description, English Heritage, 04.03.10 Appendix 2 1930s Drainage Plans of C19 School

Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

1.0 Introduction 1.1 Balfour Beatty Refurbishment has commissioned MetroMOLA, a regional subsidiary of Museum of London Archaeology, to undertake this Heritage Statement in respect of Hanover Primary School (Figure 1), a Grade II Listed Building designated 04/03/10 (Appendix 1). This relates to a number of works proposed under the Primary Capital Programme to refurbish, extend and update the building to contemporary educational and DDA (2005) standards. Proposals have been formulated in full consultation with English Heritage and the local authority.

Figure 1: Location Plan, Hanover Primary School

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1.2 The list description for Hanover Primary School notes the building to be a former Elementary, now Primary School of 1931-2 by London County Council (LCC) Architects Department. Built to five bays and three storeys with rooftop playground, to the principal façade on Noel Road, the central bay is set back behind a portico of four square piers. The list description goes on to note that it is constructed in a „loose‟ Arts & Crafts style, in yellow stock brick with mixed red and blue brick and Portland stone dressings. Roofs to roof-top playground shelters are tiled and hipped.

1.3 The school is described as being laid out to a linear plan with single-banked open-air classrooms to the south of an axial corridor. Slightly angled pavilion blocks to each end contain halls to the east and, originally, practical workshops to the west, with an additional infants‟ class on the ground floor. Separately expressed stair blocks project from the principal façade between classroom blocks and pavilions. These have an additional storey to the front of the building, providing rooftop shelters and access.

1.4 Hanover Primary School is included on the Secretary of State‟s list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest for its „unusual design‟. This is noted as mixing Arts & Crafts and what are termed „stripped-classical‟ styles, whilst being considered one of the best examples of LCC Victorian „triple-decker‟ designs, adapted to embrace the hygiene-led approach to open-air schools typical of the inter- war period. Also noted in this regard is its high quality brickwork detailing and good survival of internal fabric.

1.5 The site is also located at the east of Duncan Terrace/Colebrooke Row Conservation Area, or CA3, designated in 1969 and extended in 1991 (Figure 2). This is described by the local authority in both their design guidelines and leaflet for the area (both undated) as:

“ . . . predominantly residential and largely made up of late Georgian and early Victorian terraces. There are also important commercial uses in the area which contribute to its character. The Regent's Canal and City Road Basin are also important features, the former emerging from the Islington Tunnel at Vincent Terrace. A small section of the New River Walk also runs through the area. Overall the area has a remarkable architectural consistency, homogeneity and historic interest, which gives the area its special character and appearance . . .”

1.6 In response to contemporary minimum accommodation standards for schools (as defined by the Government‟s Building Bulletin 99), DDA (2005) requirements and more general issues of climate change and sustainability, proposals entail the creation of a single centralised main entrance; the installation of lifts and disabled hoists; the increase of classroom size; the provision of a new hall, dining facilities and sanitary accommodation; the resolution of excessive solar glare; and, the reduction of school energy bills and carbon footprint.

1.7 In accordance with Policy HE6 of PPS5, the statement first identifies and describes the significance of the heritage asset - in this instance comprising the listed building and wider conservation area - before going on to consider the projected impact of proposals upon that significance.

1.8 The author of the report is Mark Sanderson, Regional Project Manager for MetroMOLA (South). Mark has over ten years‟ experience of major heritage projects and conservation strategy throughout the UK, in both private and public sector roles. He is a full member of the Institute of Historic Buildings Conservation. 2 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

Figure 2: Duncan Terrace & Colebrooke Row Conservation Area

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2.0 Planning Framework Legislation 2.1 Legislation relating to the historic environment is contained in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Of particular relevance are Sections 16, 66 and 72, summarised as follows:

Concerning a listed building or its setting, the local planning authority or Secretary of State shall have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.

Concerning conservation areas, special attention shall be paid to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of that area.

National Guidance 2.2 National guidance concerning the historic environment is now contained in Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment (March 2010) and is supplemented by the Historic Environment Planning Practice Guide (English Heritage, March 2010). Relevant extracts are again summarised as follows.

2.3 Paragraph 7 of PPS 5 sets out the Government‟s principal objectives for planning for the historic environment. These „recognise that intelligently managed change may sometimes be necessary if heritage assets are to be maintained for the long term‟.

2.4 Policy HE1.1 states that local planning authorities should identify opportunities to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change when making decisions relating to heritage assets, seeking the appropriate modification of the asset where opportunities to adapt would include enhanced energy efficiency.

2.5 Policy HE1.3 notes that where conflict between climate change objectives and the conservation of heritage assets is unavoidable, the public benefits of mitigating the effects of climate change should be weighed against any harm to the significance of heritage assets.

2.6 Paragraph 25 of the Historic Environment Planning Practice Guide goes further, noting that in instances where the ongoing energy performance of a building is unsatisfactory, there will almost always be some scope for suitable adaptations to be made without harm to the asset‟s significance.

2.7 Policy HE7.2 states that local planning authorities should take into account the nature of the significance of the heritage asset and the value it holds, using such an understanding to avoid or minimise conflict between the asset‟s conservation and any aspect of proposals.

2.8 Policy HE7.4 notes that local planning authorities should take into account the desirability of sustaining and enhancing the significance of heritage assets.

2.9 Policy HE7.5 states that the local authority should take into account the desirability of new development making a positive contribution to the character and local distinctiveness of the historic environment.

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Local Policy 2.10 Islington Unitary Development Plan (2002) also contains relevant policy. This is summarised below.

D22 The Council will pay special attention to ensure that the design of new development within conservation areas is of a high standard, and will normally require that new buildings and extensions to existing buildings should conform to the height, scale and massing of existing buildings and spaces within the conservation area.

D39 The Council will seek to ensure that external or internal works or changes of use to buildings on the statutory list do not adversely affect their character or appearance. The Council will also ensure that their setting is protected or enhanced.

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3.0 Historic Background

3.1 At the outset of the post-medieval period, the proximity of Islington to the City of London had already made this largely rural area popular with the wealthy. Many large country houses were built on manorial lands some distance from the less attractive environs of the City, whilst allowing their occupants sufficiently close contact with its trade and employment.

3.2 During the Civil War (1642-6), the distinction between City and Islington was made physical. As part of wider measures to protect the City, Liberties and outlying parishes against Royalist forces, the Common Council constructed a 17km line of defences. Islington lay just outside of this boundary.

Figure 3: Roque’s Map of 1746

3.3 For much of this period the area remained mostly undeveloped. Roque‟s map of 1746 (Figure 3) shows large swathes of agricultural land to still bound the generally linear, roadside settlements of Islington and Hoxton. At this time, the site of Hanover Primary School (the site) lay in the enclosure shown directly south of Frog Hall and to the north of tracts of development then extending north around London.

3.4 The Greenwood map of 1824-6 (Figure 4) shows this development progressing steadily north. Also shown is Regent‟s Canal, which connected the Grand Junction Canal in west London to the recently constructed West India Docks in the east. Construction of the canal began in 1816, with the Islington section being completed in 1820. To the north of the juncture between Regent‟s Canal Basin and Regent‟s Canal, the site itself remains undeveloped.

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Figure 4: Greenwood’s Map of 1824-6

Figure 5: St Mary Islington Tithe Map, 1848

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3.5 The St. Mary Islington Tithe Map of 1848 (Figure 5) again shows the site to remain undeveloped. However, much infrastructure has been laid out and the Tithe apportionment states that lands to the north were “brickfields” (for brick clay extraction) owned by the Cloth Works Company. In contrast, the OS Map of 1871 (Figure 6) shows a significant leap in growth and the site to be now occupied by a terrace on what was then called Hanover Street (now Noel Road).

3.6 Although in direct competition with the railways since the 1840s, to the direct south of the site the two canal basins give some idea of the still prominent role in transport played by the canals at this time. Among other industries (indecipherable) are shown foundries, ironworks – one of which produced galvanised iron - and timber yards.

Figure 6: 1871 OS Map

3.7 By 1894-6 (Figure 7), twelve terraced houses in the central and eastern part of the site have been demolished and replaced by the large Hanover Street Board School for 828 boys, girls and infants. This was built in 1876 and opened in 1877. 1930s drainage plans (Appendix 2) for the original late 19th century school show this to have been built on a similar level to the existing building i.e. below street level on the north side.

3.8 As a Board School, this would have been built in response to the Elementary Education Act of 1870, which resulted in elected school boards, building and running new schools where existing schooling provision was found inadequate. Between 1870 and 1904, the School Board of London (SBL) was the single largest educational provider in London, and by the end of its tenure, had built over four hundred schools.

3.9 A more socially-conscious addition to private or charitable schools, its role was consolidated early on by enforced attendance. Although successful, the SBL was nevertheless considered bureaucratic and expensive. With the subsequent Education Act of 1902, the SBL was therefore abolished and replaced by Local Education Authorities. In 1904, the responsibility for education in London transferred to the London County Council (LCC). 8 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

Figure 7: 1894-6 OS Map

Figure 8: 1932 OS Map

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Figure 9: Hanover Primary School, Front Elevation, 1933

Figure 10: Hanover Primary School, Rear Elevation, 1933

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3.10 Although the 1916 OS (not shown) shows no change at the site, between 1931-2, evidence of the LCC‟s responsibility for education can be seen in effect at Hanover Street School. The old school building and twelve terraced houses were removed as a result of subsidence caused by the canal, and on the 1932 OS map (Figure 8), the new school (named Hanover Street School, Figures 9 & 10) is shown, although Hanover Street itself is by then named Noel Road.

3.11 Both the site and new building are much larger than previously, the school occupying the central and western parts of the site, whilst the eastern part remains open and undeveloped. It is again a multi-storey building despite the enlarged site and, where space allowed, a growing popularity for single-storey primary schools at this time. However, a larger playground and lower-density classrooms were enabled as a result of the redevelopment.

3.12 The site is shown in more detail by the 1954 OS map (Figure 11). In addition to the principal structure are four smaller structures, with three along the southern edge of the site, and one on the northern edge. The 1966-9 OS again shows no change and is not reproduced. By 1973 (Figure 12), the site is little changed but for a small ancillary building constructed at the western end of the site, and another at its eastern end.

Figure 11: 1954 OS Map

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Figure 12: 1973 OS Map

3.13 Pevsner finds Hanover Street School “a most unusual building”, and one that is “Squeezed in between canal and street and so with a rooftop playground carried upon giant piers in front of the street façade. End pavilions combine Arts & Crafts composition with Art Deco trim”. The list description interprets the design of the new school as reflecting:

“. . . current thinking regarding school design in its single banked classrooms which opened out onto balconies overlooking the canal through French windows, allowing maximum ventilation and light. Fresh air and good lighting had been a major preoccupation with health practitioners, educationalists and, eventually, schools architects such as George Widdows in Derbyshire, George Reid in Staffordshire, RG Kirkby in Bradford and WH Webb in London, since the early 1900s. This movement of hygiene-led schools design reached its culmination in the separate-block planned, open-air special schools which began to be built in the years prior to World War I and reached their heyday in the 1920s. Hanover School is a successful attempt to merge the Board school „triple-decker‟ approach to schools design with the, then current, health and hygiene driven approach of the open-air schools”.

3.14 That the building is „unusual‟ is attributable to a number of factors. Although a fairly restricted site, in this densely urban location it would nevertheless have needed to accommodate a large number of pupils, whilst still responding to new ideas of spaciousness, health, hygiene and the more specific open-air solutions popular at that time: usually via a single-storey model, but in this instance via a multi-storey structure.

3.15 Historically, in relation to wider trends in 1930s school building, what is now Hanover Primary School may therefore be considered something of a transitional building, but one that is – because of its combined response to a restricted site, high number of pupils and then emerging trends in educational policy - markedly individual and therefore of some historic interest. 12 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

4.0 The Conservation Area

4.1 As already noted, the site is also located at the east of Duncan Terrace / Colebrooke Row Conservation Area, or „CA3‟, designated in 1969 and extended in 1991 (Figure 2). This is described by the local authority in both their design guidelines and leaflet for the area (both undated) as:

“. . . predominantly residential and largely made up of late Georgian and early Victorian terraces. There are also important commercial uses in the area which contribute to its character. The Regent's Canal and City Road Basin are also important features, the former emerging from the Islington Tunnel (Figure 12) at Vincent Terrace. A small section of the New River Walk also runs through the area. Overall the area has a remarkable architectural consistency, homogeneity and historic interest, which gives the area its special character and appearance . . .”

Figure 12: Regent’s Canal, entrance to Islington Tunnel (Cosh 2005)

4.2 This is a largely accurate description of the character and appearance of the conservation area, which may clearly be interpreted as being of a generically tight, regular grain, and notable for its „architectural consistency‟ and „homogeneity‟, a characterisation typical of much Georgian and Victorian terracing. Individual sites are also of a regular size and shape, and strictly contained.

4.3 This sense of regularity is added to by the almost total residential use of the area, interspersed only by expected facilities such as shops, schools (Figure 13), pubs (the Grade II listed Island Queen for e.g., Figure 14), and churches. It is also added to by consistently and rigidly enclosed views and vistas and a palette of materials and design features common to the predominantly late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries‟ evolution of this locale.

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Figure 13: Hanover Primary School Figure 14: The Island Queen

4.4 Common materials would include slate, yellow stock brick and stucco (channelled and plain), whilst individual features would include timber sash windows and decorative ironwork in the form of railings and balconies. Basements, front steps, mansards and parapets are also common design features (Figures 15 & 16).

4.5 Historic street treatments would include York stone paving, cobblestones, granite setts and kerbs, and cast iron coal holes. Historic street furniture would include lampposts, bollards or street signs. The towpath is of particular interest in this regard, not only for its waterside location, but also in terms of its surviving original materials and operational furniture.

4.6 The overriding regularity of the conservation area, where streets generally lie on a roughly east-west or north-south axis, is in places softened or countered by substantial tree planting to routes and thoroughfares (Grade II Listed 55-85 (odd) Noel Road for e.g., Figure 17). But more particularly, by the presence of Regent‟s Canal, the City Road Basin and the contribution these features make toward the open spaces of the conservation area.

Figure 15: Noel Road (North Side) Figure 16: Noel Road (South Side)

4.7 The conservation area can be seen to be very much focused around the canal - this being physically central - whilst the basin extends the designation in a south-easterly direction, opening up considerable views on this boundary. In contrast to the enclosure of surrounding streets, the canal and basin are bright, open, wide spaces, reflecting light and again endowed with more natural elements such as small trees and grass verges.

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Figure 17: Noel Road, view west

4.8 The site itself lies between these two deeply contrasting elements of the conservation area. Whilst facing onto the attractive but relatively enclosed space of Noel Road, to the rear, views open south across City Road Basin and beyond. This is an exceptional view and one that is unequalled elsewhere in the conservation area, whilst the upper levels of the school are the best vantage point from which to appreciate it (Figure 18).

Figure 18: City Road Basin, from Rooftop Playground

4.9 As such, the school is considered a pivotal site and as assuming a role that is to some extent reflected and reinforced by its „unusual‟ design. Although serving the 15 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

wider residential area, the structure is not of a domestic usage itself and has little to do with the operation of the canal. Physically and visually, it has no direct relationship with either, being of a much larger scale and footprint than neighbouring houses, and separated from the canal by boundary walls. Such an impression is reinforced still further by a lack of any shared style or design with its neighbours. It is also of a later date than either.

4.10 On several levels, Hanover Primary School may therefore be interpreted as signalling a shift in emphasis between the tight urban grain of neighbouring residences and their relatively consistent enclosure, and the wide open spaces of the earlier canal and canal basin. That the site represents something of a departure from surrounding fabric and spaces is borne out by its unusual character and appearance, which, other than some shared materials, lacks any direct reference to its environs.

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5.0 The Listed Building

Advice Report & List Description 5.1 Only recently listed (04/03/10 see Appendix 1), Hanover Primary School is a former Elementary, now Primary School of 1931-2, by LCC Architects Department. It is described as being built to five bays and three storeys with rooftop playground (Figure 19), while to the principal façade on Noel Road, the central bay is set back behind a portico of four square piers. Constructed in a „loose‟ Arts & Crafts style, materials are yellow stock brick with mixed red and blue and Portland stone dressings. Roofs to roof-top playground shelters are tiled and hipped (Figure 20).

Figure 19: Rooftop Playground Figure 20: Rooftop Shelters

5.2 It is laid out to a linear plan with single-banked open-air classrooms to the south of an axial corridor. Slightly angled pavilion blocks to each end follow the curve of the road, containing halls to the east and, originally, practical workshops to the west, with an additional infants‟ class on the ground floor. Separately expressed stair blocks project from the principal façade between classroom blocks and pavilions. These have an additional storey to the front of the building, providing rooftop shelters and access.

Figure 21: Noel Road Elevation Figure 22: Single-Banked Classrooms

5.3 The school is built below Noel Road on a „terrace‟ running parallel to the canal, with the main entrances to the building being at first floor level (Figure 21). Accessed via a central corridor, a bank of open air classrooms comprise the rear elevation, and face south to achieve maximum natural light (Figure 22). First and second floors have balconies, whilst the ground floor opens out onto a playground, which, being on the south side of the school, overlooks the canal.

5.4 To the principal elevation on Noel Road, the portico itself is surmounted by a parapet 17 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

over a corbelled projection (Figure 23), whilst behind the four square piers, fenestration has interspersed (with decorative, floral plaques) large and small square- headed windows on the second floor (Figure 24), regularly spaced segmental arched windows to the first floor, and square headed windows to the ground floor. Flanking the central bay are the two principal entrance bays: these lead to main staircases which are articulated externally, with a Portland stone step or what is described as a „zig-zag‟ design.

Figure 23: Corbelled Projection and Figure 24: Interspersed Fenestration Date Plaque and Floral Plaques

5.5 Entrances are noted to undergo different treatments. The boy‟s entrance to the western block has brick piers with a stone cornice over plaques with a floral design and, to the right, the inscription „BOYS ENTRANCE‟ (Figure 25). Beneath a simple stone hood, the girl‟s entrance to the eastern block has a terracotta surround inscribed „GIRLS‟ (Figure 26) on the lintel, and above, a floral plaque below a square headed window with a Portland stone surround.

Figure 25: Boy’s Entrance Figure 26: Girls Entrance

5.6 Windows to the western bay or workroom block are segmental arched to the upper floors, arranged in threes with a narrow central window, and two square-headed windows on the ground floor. The eastern bay or hall block is divided into five bays. The large windows of the three inner bays are set in shallow round brick arches, arched on the second floor and square-headed on the ground and first floors. The two outer bays are blind recesses but with decorative brick corbelling to the attic, 18 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

which has five small square windows.

5.7 The east and west elevations are similar with regular fenestration, mostly square- headed. The ground floor of the western elevation has French windows and - as on the two floors above - was always a classroom rather than a workroom. The rooftop playground is noted to be virtually unaltered and as having red-tiled stair buildings and shelters with wooden trusses supported on cast-iron columns. To the rear of the hall block a small single-storey, flat-roofed extension with a glazed entrance lobby has recently been added.

Figure 27: Parquet Flooring Figure 28: Dado Tiling & Internal Glazing

5.8 Interiors are identified as generally retaining their original layout, parquet floors (Figure 27) dado tiling, and the classrooms their internal glazing (Figure 28) and original glazed doors. Stairs retain plain metal banisters and wooden handrails (Figure 29), whilst to the stairs of the first floor are two wooden memorial or „Brave Deeds Boards‟ recording the names of pupils that rescued people from drowning in the canal (Figure 30). Ancillary structures are noted to include original cast iron gates and railings, the school-keeper‟s house to the west, and retaining or boundary walls, although the latter two features are not considered to be of interest.

Figure 29: Stairwell Balustrade Figure 30: Brave Deeds Board

5.9 In addition to the flat-roofed extension noted above (paragraph 5.7), a number of other changes subsequent to the building‟s original date of construction are noted. These are significant and unfortunately include the replacement of rear/south elevation windows and doors for uPVC; the replacement of eastern hall/block windows for uPVC; the general replacement of windows and doors to east and west elevations for uPVC; the reconfiguration of classrooms along the south elevation, resulting in the reduction of classrooms on each floor from six to four; the changes of 19 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

use of some rooms (a kitchen has been installed in a classroom, while the second floor hall is now a library for example); the reconfiguration of two entrances to one to improve security; and the painting over of some dado tiling.

Discussion 5.10 The „triple-decker‟ format of the school makes clear reference to its SBL lineage, which from 1871 employed its own architects: initially E. R. Robson before Robson‟s succession by T. J. Bailey. By the 1880s, the large three-storey school had become the standard approach of the SBL, with infants, girls and boys on separate levels, and in densely developed areas, rooftop playgrounds. With Bailey, an increasingly formulaic plan was then developed for larger schools, usually with symmetrical, heavily glazed elevations flanked by stair towers facing onto the street.

5.11 This approach is very much the basis of that applied at Hanover Primary School by LCC, except that SBL schools would usually be more flamboyantly treated in a variety of styles and features, from Queen Anne to the Baroque. Cupolas, gables and bows would enrich the elevations and rooflines of buildings that, combined with their size, proved physically and visually striking landmarks besides usually smaller, terraced neighbours. In contrast, the „stripped-classical‟ and „loose‟ Arts & Crafts styling of Hanover Primary School more accurately reflects its plainer, more sober, 1930s period of construction during an economic downturn.

5.12 One further departure from the former SBL format would be the application of then current trends in school design (see paragraph 3.13, above), and their emphasis upon ventilation, light, health and hygiene. Applied to a three storey structure of single-banked, heavily glazed classrooms, this resulted in a south-facing elevation comprised almost wholly of pivoted (now top-hung) windows and French doors, with full-width balconies facing south across the open space of canal and basin; particularly impressive for its successful ventilation and light. By this time, Hanover Primary is also less of a „flagship‟ building than its SBL predecessors, and on its low terrace, designed to sit less prominently in the streetscape.

5.13 Whilst clearly reflecting both an SBL lineage and somewhat difficult historic context – a combination of changing educational policy and economic downturn - that the resulting building is „unusual‟ in its design is without question. However, some elements are felt to be more successful than others, resulting in a somewhat weak architectural composition. The portico is particularly impressive, but lacks focus or the expected grand or central entrance, while the end blocks are asymmetrical and of a different design, scale and massing to each other, which, taken together, present an impression on Noel Road that is at best imbalanced, and at worst awkward.

5.14 In a building where form follows what is a very clearly defined function, Hanover Primary‟s aesthetic failings may be attributable to the building‟s strict adherence to achieving schooling in accordance with 1930s educational objectives, on what is a physically restricted site. The subsequent changes exhibited by the building (see paragraph 5.9), only reflect the inevitable progress and development of such objectives, as time has passed. At the present time, contemporary educational objectives are not understood to be achievable by the existing school, and the Chair of Governors of Hanover Primary is of the view that the building and its design failings make it not „properly fit for the purpose of educating children in the C21‟ (p.3, Advice Report, English Heritage, Appendix 1).

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6.0 Proposals & Impacts

The Need for Redevelopment 6.1 In the attempt to meet continually changing standards, past adaptation of the school on restricted budgets has thus far proved piecemeal and inadequate, resulting in the gradual erosion of both special interest and the building‟s ability to be fit for purpose. Hanover Primary has now been identified by the local education authority (London Borough of Islington) as being in urgent need of improvement and has been offered the opportunity under the Primary Capital Programme to be refurbished and updated to achieve as closely as possible, contemporary educational standards.

6.2 Although the school is currently well attended it is considered necessary to undertake its sensitive redevelopment in order that this vibrancy is maintained. Only by continuing to serve the local community successfully, will the long term future of Hanover Primary be enabled and the listed building able to continue functioning as a school, the purpose for which it was originally built. Proposals therefore seek to effect the sensitive redevelopment of Hanover Primary by the retention and enhancement of key features of interest.

6.3 Under comparison with the Government‟s Building Bulletin 99, which sets out minimum accommodation standards for contemporary schools, Hanover Primary can be seen to be lacking in the following areas:

i) An adequately sized and equipped sports hall;

ii) Adequately sized and equipped classrooms;

iii) Flexible teaching space;

iv) IT facilities;

v) Teaching storage; and,

vi) A single secure entry point.

6.4 Hanover Primary also falls short in several other key areas. Given the Government‟s obligation to improve public buildings by reducing carbon, Hanover Primary is currently working inefficiently, resulting in high running costs and consequently, a large carbon footprint. It is also non-compliant with current Building Regulations and DDA requirements in the following areas:

a) Toilet provision for staff and pupils, which is substantially short of current standards;

b) Disabled provision, with no disabled or wheelchair access from street level into the building, or between floors, and no disabled toilets;

c) The single pipe hot water heating system is very poor, with classrooms at the end of the circuit being very cold and those at the beginning very warm;

d) Severe summer overheating in many classrooms as a result of their south-facing, waterfront location and extensive glazing;

e) Severe glare in many classrooms, again as a result of south-facing, waterfront location and extensive glazing; and,

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f) No mechanical ventilation provision in any of the classrooms or sports hall.

6.5 Key issues at the school are therefore understood to include the following:

1) The requirement for disabled access at all levels;

2) The entrance level is between 1000-1200mm above pavement level, and a ramp or hoist is therefore necessary;

3) Existing entrances do not have sufficient space to accommodate a hoist or ramp;

4) School security requires one principal entrance;

5) The existing entrance hall is small and cramped;

6) With this access being located at one end of the building, the corridor very quickly becomes very overcrowded and becomes a safety hazard.

7) Kitchen and dining rooms are located at opposite ends of the building.

6.6 These shortfalls and issues are considered extensive and urgent, and Hanover Primary is therefore included in Islington‟s first wave of Primary School improvement projects. Funding does not exist to move the school elsewhere, or to provide a new building, and so Hanover Primary must be adapted in order to maintain the facility in this location. This will ensure that the listed building continues to function as a school and continues to contribute to the vibrancy of the wider conservation area. This will also ensure that its future maintenance, survival and contribution to the locale are not put at risk or compromised by redundancy.

The Approach 6.7 Proposals include a new double-height hall with changing and teaching storage facilities constructed on the eastern end of the building. This would allow the existing hall to be used solely for dining. For convenience and efficiency, the existing kitchen will be improved and relocated from the west end of the building to a space adjoining the dining hall. The new hall will also allow whole school assemblies. Its design will be high quality and authentically demonstrate a clearly contemporary phase.

6.8 For the sake of integration with the host building, the proportion and rhythm of its panelling/cladding will, however, reflect the dimensions and spacing of adjacent bays. Its construction will entail removal of the existing, poor quality flat-roofed extension on the southern side of the school, and in contrast, perpetuate the currently linear plan form of the building, following the gentle curve of Noel Road. Its presence and/or impact on Noel Road will be substantially mitigated by its subservience to the principal building (in terms of height, scale and massing) and siting upon the lower terrace.

6.9 Classroom sizes will be increased to provide modern flexible teaching space, suitable for the curriculum in accordance with the requirements of BB99. This will be achieved by the removal of non-original classroom partitions and by extending some existing classrooms outward over the southern playground by means of four predominantly glazed „bolt-on‟ bays or oriel-type features. Again introducing a high quality design element, these bays will authentically represent a contemporary phase in the school‟s growth and development, and by drawing upon existing design qualities, enhance what is an already attractive elevation. Existing openings would however, be retained, and inappropriate uPVC replaced.

22 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

6.10 A single centralised main entrance will be created, providing a secure, controllable entry point allowing fully compliant disabled access. This provides the focus or grand entrance that is expected on the principal elevation, but currently lacking. It will also mitigate to some extent, the impression of imbalance and asymmetry currently presented by the Noel Road elevation, much enhancing what is an already attractive, but essentially flawed element i.e. the portico. In practical terms, this centrally located entrance allows the safe, orderly, secure and even distribution of users, relieving the congestion currently experienced via the single, eastern entrance.

6.11 To the east of this will be a new disabled access ramp, which in conjunction with the lower terrace, the portico accommodates easily and discreetly. In addition, new disabled hoists and lifts will afford access to all levels, and the latter is again easily and discreetly accommodated in former toilet spaces adjoining the eastern stairwell. New sanitary accommodation will be provided to meet both BB99 and Building Regulations, whilst issues of internal comfort, energy sustainability and carbon footprint are to be met by a replacement heating system and adding insulation. Issues of excessive solar glare will be addressed by replacement windows, blinds and the introduction of mechanical ventilation.

6.12 Elsewhere, original historic fabric is to benefit from extensive repair and/or restoration works where possible. Damaged wall tiles are to be repaired or, where broken, replaced, whilst those painted over are to be cleaned. Radiators, doors, ironmongery, timber panelling windows, internal glazed screens, skirtings and pictures rails are to be repaired and/or redecorated. Herringbone parquet flooring is to be repaired and repolished, while tiled splash-backs to drinking fountains are also to be repaired. Any original features removed via the implementation of new works will be re-used in repair or replacement works elsewhere. Importantly, uPVC double doors and windows are to be replaced with timber double doors and windows to match the originals these inappropriate versions replaced.

6.13 Of a high quality and imaginative, it is considered that new elements will enhance the structure visually, whilst making it a more effective building operationally; thus enabling long term, continuing usage as a school, and thereby future maintenance and survival of the heritage asset. These will also be of a clearly contemporary styling, authentic to the present period and as such allowing the original structure to remain legible. Such legibility is compounded by preserving the most distinctive, or significant elements of Hanover Primary intact, and would include the Noel Road portico; the fabric and design integrity of the south elevation; the axial corridor and staircases; original internal walls; original windows; and, internal features including parquet flooring, radiators and dado tiling.

23 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

7.0 Summary

7.1 Historically, in relation to wider trends in 1930s school building, Hanover Primary School may be considered something of a transitional building, but one that is – because of its combined response to a restricted site, high number of pupils and then emerging trends in educational policy - markedly individual and therefore of some historic interest.

7.2 In terms of the wider conservation area, Hanover Primary signals a shift in emphasis between the tight urban grain of neighbouring residences and the wide open spaces of the canal and canal basin. Physically and visually, it has no direct relationship with either, being of a much larger scale and footprint than neighbouring houses, and separated from the canal by boundary walls. It is also of a later date and shares no stylistic or design feature with its environs.

7.3 Such a nature is to some extent reflected and reinforced by what is widely accepted as its „unusual‟ design, which exhibits some clearly less successful elements. In a building where form follows what is a very clearly defined function, Hanover Primary‟s aesthetic failings may be attributable to the building‟s strict adherence to achieving schooling in accordance with 1930s educational objectives, on what is a physically restricted site, and whilst accommodating new ideas in school design.

7.4 Subsequent changes exhibited by the building reflect the evolution of such objectives, as time has passed. At the present time however, contemporary educational objectives are not understood to be achievable by the existing school building, and the Chair of Governors of Hanover Primary is of the view that the structure and its design failings make it not „properly fit for the purpose of educating children in the C21‟.

7.5 Of a high quality and imaginative, it is considered that new elements will enhance the structure visually, whilst making it a more effective building operationally; thus enabling long term, continuing usage as a school, and by extension, future maintenance and survival of the heritage asset. Of a clearly contemporary styling, these additions would be authentic to the present period and as such allow the original structure to remain legible.

7.6 Such legibility would be compounded by preserving the most distinctive or significant elements of Hanover Primary intact, and restoring others. These elements would include the Noel Road portico; the fabric and design integrity of the south elevation; the axial corridor and staircases; original internal walls; original windows; and, internal features including parquet flooring, radiators and dado tiling.

24 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

7.0 Sources

AGL, 2000, The Archaeology of Greater London: an Assessment of Archaeological Evidence for Human Presence in the Area now covered by Greater London, MOLAS, London

BARTON, N., 1992, The Lost Rivers of London, Historical Publications, London

COSH, M., 2005, A History of Islington, Historical Publications, London

CHERRY, B., PEVSNER, N., 1999, The Buildings of England – London 4: North, Penguin, London

GERAINT, F., 2009, Inter-London Schools 1918-44: A Thematic Study, English Heritage, London

HIBBERT, C., WEINREB, B., 1995, The London Encyclopaedia, Macmillan, London

LOWE, R., SEABORNE, M., 1977, The English School: Its Architecture and Organisation – Vol. II 1870-90, London

NELSON, J., 1811, A History of Islington in the Parish of St. Mary Islington, London

Richardson, J., 1988, Islington Past: A Visual History of Islington, Historic Publications, London

STURDY, D., 1975, The Civil War Defences of London, London Archaeology 2

VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY (VCH), 1985, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume VIII, London

25 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

Appendix 1

26 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

English Heritage (Listing) Advice Report 04 MAR 2010

Hanover Primary School and railings, panelled walls and gatepiers to front (north) elevation, NOEL ROAD, ISLINGTON Date First Listed: 04-MAR-2010 Formerly Listed As: Parish ISLINGTON Case UID: 168874 District ISLINGTON County GREATER LONDON 12-NOV-2009

Outcome: Yes, list

Recommended Grade: II

BACKGROUND: After examining all the papers on this file and other relevant information and having carefully considered the architectural and historic interest of this case, the criteria for listing are fulfilled.

HISTORY Originally named Hanover Street Board School (from the previous name of Noel Road), Hanover Primary School opened in 1877 with places for 828 boys, girls and infants, rising to 1,229 by 1893. It was a typical three-storey London board school. The present school was built in 1931-2 by the London County Council (LCC) slightly to the west of the board school which was demolished due to subsidence resulting from its location next to the canal. The creation of the new school, designed by the LCC Architects Department, involved the demolition not only of the original school but twelve houses in the terrace to the west to give an enlarged site. Despite this extra space it was still a relatively restricted site and the new school followed the earlier board school in being multi-storey (as was usually the case where the LCC replaced existing board schools), although the prevailing trend was for single-storey primary schools where space allowed. The remainder of the site was used to create a large playground to the east of the new school. Nonetheless the new school was larger than the original school and allowed for lower-density classrooms. The new school reflected current thinking regarding school design in its single- banked classrooms which opened out onto balconies overlooking the canal through French windows, allowing maximum ventilation and light. Fresh air and good lighting had been a major preoccupation with health practitioners, educationalists and, eventually, schools architects such as George Widdows in Derbyshire, George Reid in Staffordshire, RG Kirkby in Bradford and WH Webb in London, since the early 1900s. This movement of hygiene-led schools design reached its culmination in the separate-block planned, open-air special schools which began to be built in the years prior to World War I and reached their heyday in the 1920s.

DESCRIPTION The school is built below the level of Noel Road on a terrace next to the Regent's Canal, with entrance to the building from the road at first-floor level. Constructed of yellow stock brick with mixed red and blue brick dressings, the plan consists of a long classroom block with a hall block adjoining to the east, orientated at a slight angle to follow the curve of the road. The classroom block similarly has a slightly angled west

27 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010 end, originally containing practical workshops on the two upper floors. Like the hall block, it is raised an additional storey at the front of the building (with hipped tile roofs) to provide shelters and staircase access for the large roof-top playground that forms the roof for the rest of the building. The open air classrooms are located to the rear of the building, off a central corridor, and face south to get maximum natural light, with balconies to the first and second floors. The ground floor opens onto the playground to the south of the school overlooking the canal. Originally there were six classrooms on each level (plus an extra ground floor classroom in place of a workshop); ground floor for infants, first for junior boys and second for junior girls. Each of the upper storey classrooms originally had three pairs of adjacent French windows, with a six-pane window either side, and four-pane, centrally- pivoted, windows above.

The ground floor classrooms had a slightly narrower frontage and only two pairs of French windows divided by a standard six-pane window. These were all replaced in 2008 with plastic windows which retain the style and arrangement of the originals, although with top-hinged upper windows. The remainder of the fenestration on the south elevation is of square-headed windows with dressings of alternating blue and red bricks. These have also been replaced in uPVC. The principal elevation to Noel Road is in a loose Arts and Crafts style with five-bays, each treated separately. The central bay is set back behind a portico formed of four tall square piers of mixed red and blue brick with an additional rectangular pier to the east, atop the boiler room and containing the boiler chimney which rises above the parapet with a corbelled projection. The fenestration behind the portico has interspersed large and small square-headed windows (with decorative plaques with floral motifs below) on the second floor, regularly spaced segmental arched windows to the first floor and square-headed to the ground floor. Either side of the central bay are the two principal entrance bays to the school and leading to the main staircases which are articulated externally with a Portland stone zig-zag step design between the second and attic (rooftop playground) floors.

The entrances are all given different treatment: the boys' entrance in the western block having brick piers with a stone cornice, plaques below with floral designs and 'BOYS ENTRANCE' inscription; the girls' entrance in the eastern block has a terracotta surround inscribed 'GIRLS' on the lintel with a simple stone hood, above which is a floral plaque below a square-headed window with a Portland stone surround. The windows of the western bay (to the workroom block) are segmental arched to the upper floors, in threes with a narrow central window, with two square-headed windows on the ground floor. The eastern (hall) block is divided into fivebays. The large windows of the three inner bays are set in shallow round brick arches, arched on the second floor and square-headed on the ground and first floors. The two outer bays are blind recesses but with decorative brick corbelling to the attic which has five small square windows. All windows to this elevation are plastic replacements. The east and west elevations are similar with regular fenestration, mostly square headed. The ground floor of the west elevation has French windows as this was always a classroom rather than a workroom, as on the two floors above. Windows are largely plastic replacements.

The rooftop playground is virtually unaltered with its red-tiled stair buildings and shelters with wooden trusses supported on cast-iron columns. To the rear of the hall block a small singlestorey, flat-roofed extension with a glazed entrance lobby has been recently added. The interior generally retains its original layout although, as

28 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010 established in the consultation process (see below), there has been alteration to the plan of the classrooms along the south elevation with changes to the dividing walls to reduce the classrooms on each floor from the original six to four. There have also been some changes of use (the second floor hall is now a library, for example). The halls and corridors retain their parquet floors and blue, cream and orange dado tiling (overpainted in places) and the classrooms their internal glazing and original glazed doors. The stairs retain their plain metal banisters with wooden handrails. On the stairs on the first floor are two wooden memorial boards (LCC Brave Deeds Boards) recording the names of pupils who had rescued people from drowning in the Regent's Canal.

CONTEXT Hanover Primary School was identified as one of a number of schools worthy of consideration for designation following an English Heritage Research Department report, 'Inner-London Schools 1918-1944' (2009), written to further our understanding of London's inter-war schools. The school is currently the subject of consultation on alterations to make it compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 and to make other improvements. Planning approval was granted in 2007 for alterations to the rooftop playground shelter to create an art/technology classroom but there are no other current planning applications. The schoolkeepers house (No. 78 Noel Road) is currently being renovated.

The school is in the Duncan Terrace/Colebrook Row Conservation Area. The mid- C19 terrace (55-85 odd, Noel Road) and The Island Queen Public House opposite are listed Grade II.

CONSULTATION Responses were received from consultants Rolfe Judd Planning on behalf of the Local Education Partnership (LEP), The Chair of Governors of Hanover Primary School, and the Planning Division of the London Borough of Islington. Apart from issues concerning the proposed future works to the fabric of the school, which we cannot consider, Rolfe Judd raised two points that relate to the facts presented in the initial report.

Firstly they state that, contrary to our statement that there has been 'some sub- division of the classrooms', the run of classrooms on the rear elevation have been altered from six per floor to four and that this loss of the original smaller classroom size has harmed the character of the building. Secondly they maintain that the replacement of the timber French windows with uPVC ones 'roughly' in the same style has had a significant effect on the appearance of the rear elevation and that the replacement of most of the windows in the other elevations further reduces architectural value. They also note that the 'Report on Inner London Schools 1918- 1944' states that unsympathetic window replacement of Ealdham School in Greenwich, an experiment in 'open air classroom principles', has compromised its architectural integrity. These points are discussed in the Assessment section below.

The Chair of Governors' response relates to the proposed alterations to the school and its perceived design failings which make it not 'properly fit for the purpose for educating children in the C21'. The Planning Division had nothing to add to the Initial report.

29 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

ANCILLARY STRUCTURES The schoolkeeper's house was built, in a Queen Anne style, adjoining the eastern end of the terrace on the south side of Noel Road. It is contemporary with the 1930s school. The house is of two-storeys-plus-attic, of yellow stock brick with red and blue brick dressings, and a hipped tile roof with square dormers which abuts the larger gable end of the next house in the terrace. Windows are segmental on the first floor and square on the ground. Like the school the main entrance, a multi-paned door with glazed side panels and transom, is at first floor level off Noel Road. The interior was not inspected. The original cast-iron railings and gates, brick boundary wall and gate piers to the front elevation remain, as do the original metal railings to the rooftop playground. The eastern playground has high stock brick retaining walls to Noel Street and there is also a boundary wall on the canal side of the site supported on retaining walls above the towpath.

ASSESSMENT: Building for education has resulted in some of the country's finest architecture, ranging from the medieval universities to post-war primary schools; many are striking local landmarks. School building has at times earned Britain international acclaim. Yet large numbers of schools survive and so rigorous selection is required when assessing them for designation. Although school plans became increasingly standardised from the late C19 onwards, some are impressive structures that proclaimed the hopes that were placed in education as a force for social improvement.

Assessment for listing will focus upon special architectural interest, taking into account building design, constructional techniques and significant plan forms. Of the 104 schools built in inner-London in the inter-war period there are currently only three listed examples, all at Grade II; the Aspen Open-Air School, Lambeth (1925); The John Roan School, Greenwich (1926-28); and Burlington Danes School, Hammersmith (1936). As these are a special school and two secondary schools there are no examples of inter-war LCC primary schools currently listed. This compares to over 40 London Board and early LCC schools listed at present. Nationally (other than LCC schools) there are eight inter-war elementary schools listed with the majority being nursery or special schools. Hanover Primary School is a well-surviving example of the contemporary concern with environmental factors in school design, adapted to an urban site of limited size. The school displays the design features of the health-driven reforms such as open-air access; 'singlebanked' classrooms and end located hall block, along with dramatic architectural treatment in a composition that combines Arts and Crafts and stripped-classical features, which reflect both the Board School origins of the building and its forward-looking aspects. Hanover School is identified in the English Heritage Inner-London Schools 1918-44 study as being one of the best surviving examples of the LCC's merger of the open- air classroom with the multi-storey school.

Architecturally the principal elevation is of high quality, not only in its overall design with the unusual and impressive full-height portico supporting the roof-top playground and incorporating the boiler room chimney, but also in the quality of its detailing. The decorative brickwork corbelling is used in various locations to lighten the otherwise largely adorned frontage. It is aided by the polychromatic brick, quirky step detailing to the stair blocks and varied treatment of the entrances and fenestration. The rear classroom elevation is, of necessity, dominated by the glazing and balconies of the open-air classrooms. This has, along with most other fenestration, been replaced

30 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010 with modern uPVC. This is regrettable in terms of the retention of original fabric, but it was been carried out sympathetically. It retains the form and intent of the original wooden glazing, and, in consequence, has a minimal adverse effect on the overall design. The earlier Ealdham School in Greenwich (1929), one of the first crop of LCC schools to experiment with the principles of openair education has, the Inner-London Schools study notes, been compromised by unsympathetic window replacement in contrast to the careful like-for-like replacement at Hanover School. Internally there is a good retention of original fabric including parquet floors, internal classroom glazing and doors, dado tiling (some overpainted). As is to be expected in a building designed with hygiene as one of its guiding principles and in an era of economic downturn, the interior is functional with minimal decorative elements although enlivened by the use of differing coloured dado tiling and the incorporation of window seating in the central corridors. Worthy of note are the charming honour boards commemorating the, not infrequent, acts of lifesaving in the adjacent canal by pupils.

The internal layout has been altered by the removal of the original dividing walls to the classrooms along the south of the building, reducing the classrooms from the original six to four larger ones. However, the original fabric and configuration of the internal doors and windows and configuration of the external French windows remains unaltered. This significantly reduces the effect of the alterations on the character of the school and, it can be argued, is a superficial change that could, if future educational need dictated it, easily revert to the original layout. The remainder of the plan form is mostly unaltered. The school has the added feature of an impressive setting overlooking the Regent's Canal and City Road Basin. This was obviously taken into account with the provision of an impressively large rooftop playground which although certainly desirable from a practical point of view on a restricted site (giving three playgrounds, along with the two at ground level, one for each division of the school, and in no sense an innovation as several Board Schools have them),has clearly been made a feature of the design with the front elevation heightened to provide the rear wall of the shelters and stair blocks.

The two sections of 1930s panelled boundary wall and metal railings and gates along the north of the school are original design features of the school and are included in the listing. However, the boundary wall extending east along this front from the end of the railings, as well as the retaining walls to the east playground and boundary walls along the canal to the south of the school, are not of special interest and have not been included.

The schoolkeeper's house is an attractive building in a Queen Anne style but lacks the innovative nature of the school. It is also somewhat uncomfortably positioned against the end wall of the adjoining terrace giving it the appearance of a incongruous extension to the Victorian building. It is therefore not included in the listing.

CONCLUSION Hanover School is recommended for listing at Grade II as one of the best surviving examples of an inter-war, LCC Architects' Department designed, triple-decker school incorporating a plan and design features derived from thirty years of national experimentation in hygiene-driven educational ideas. Coupled with this, it has an unusual composition, carried out with a high level of craftsmanship, in an interesting canal-side setting.

31 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

SOURCES Cherry, Bridget and Pevsner, Nikolaus, Buildings of England: London 4 - North (1999) p673 Franklin, Geraint, Inter-London Schools 1918-44: A Thematic Study (2009) LCC Schools Plans (1931) Seaborne, Malcolm and Lowe, Roy, The English School: Its Architecture and Organisation - Vol. II 1870-1970 (1977)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Hanover Primary School, Noel Road, Islington, designed by the LCC Architects Department in1932, is recommended for designation at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: for its unusual design in a mixture of Arts and Crafts and stripped classical styles; * Historic interest: considered one of the best examples of the adaptation by the London County Council Architects Department of the Victorian Board school's 'Triple- decker' design to embrace the hygiene-led approach of the open-air schools of the period; * Materials: for its high quality brickwork detailing; * Interior: for good survival of original internal fabric, including evocative Brave Deeds boards associated with its canalside location and, overall, good retention of the original plan form; * Setting: for its prominent position overlooking the Regent's Canal.

II NOEL ROAD Hanover Primary School and railings, panelled walls and gatepiers to front (north) elevation 04-MAR-2010 25-AUG-2009 VISITS Full inspection Accompanied by Louise Horsfall. Schoolkeeper's house not inspected internally. COUNTERSIGNING Elementary school, now primary school. 1931-2 by the London County Council (LCC) Architects Department. Small early C21 extension to rear is not of special interest. MATERIALS: Yellow stock brick with mixed red and blue brick and Portland stone dressings, tiled hipped roofs to roof-top playground shelters. Original wooden fenestration mostly replaced with Upvc copies in 2008 including French windows to the open-air classrooms. Second Countersigning Comments: Agreed, also. This is a refined inter-war school, cleverly filling its tight canalside site in accordance with then current thinking on school design. Even with replaced windows, it survives very well and has historic interest for its prominent place in the capital's school design in this period. The brave deeds boards, although a relatively small feature, have particular poignancy for the school that so prominently overlooked the Regent's Canal.

13.01.10 Countersigning Comments: Agreed. In comparison to the London Board Schools of the Victorian and Edwardian periods, of which there are around 70 listed, London's inter-war schools have hereunto been little known about and only very small numbers

32 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010 protected. Recent English Heritage research has considerably enhanced understanding of this interesting and transformative period of school design and identified Hanover School as an exemplar of the inter-war LCC Architects' Department's work. Hanover School should therefore be listed at Grade II.

17.12.09 HP Director Comments: Case UID: 168874 Proposed LBS UID: 507435 PLAN: Linear plan with single-banked open-air classrooms to south of an axial corridor. These have been reduced from the original six classrooms on each floor to four by alterations to the original internal partitions. Slightly angled end pavilion blocks containing halls to the east and, originally, practical workshops to the west (additional infants class on the ground floor). Separately expressed staircase blocks on the principal façade between the classroom block and end pavilions. These blocks have an additional storey at the front of the building, rising above the large roof-top playground to provide its shelters and staircase access. EXTERIOR: Of three-storeys with a roof-top playground, the school is built below the level of Noel Road on a terrace next to the Regent's Canal, with entrance to the building from the road at first-floor level. The principal (north) elevation to Noel Road is in a loose Arts and Crafts style with five-bays, each treated separately. The central bay is set back behind a portico formed of four tall square piers of mixed red and blue brick with an additional rectangular pier to the east, atop the boiler room and containing the boiler chimney which rises above the parapet with a corbelled projection. The fenestration behind the portico has interspersed large and small square-headed windows on the second floor (with decorative plaques with floral motifs below and the central window expressed as a shallow corbelled bay); regularly spaced segmental arched windows to the first floor and squareheaded to the ground floor. Either side of the central bay are two entrance bays containing the principal entrances to the school and main staircases which are articulated externally with a Portland stone zigzag step design between the second and attic (rooftop playground) floors. The entrances are all given different treatment with the boys' entrance in the western block having brick piers with a stone cornice, plaques below with floral designs and 'BOYS ENTRANCE' inscription, whilst the girls' entrance in the eastern block has a terracotta surround inscribed 'GIRLS' on the lintel with a simple stone hood, above which is a floral plaque below a square-headed window with a Portland stone surround. The windows of the western bay (to the workroom block) are segmental arched to the upper floors, in threes with a narrow central window, with two square-headed windows on the ground floor. The eastern (hall) block is divided into five-bays. The large windows of the three inner bays are set in shallow round brick arches, arched on the second floor and square- headed on the ground and first floors. The two outer bays are blind recesses but with decorative brick corbelling to the attic which has five small square windows. The open-air classrooms are located to the rear of the building and face south to get maximum natural light, with metal balconies to the first and second floors and the ground floor opening onto the playground to the south of the school overlooking the canal. Originally there were six classrooms on each level (plus an extra ground floor classroom in place of a workshop); ground floor for infants, first for junior boys and second for junior girls. Each of the upper storey classrooms originally had three pairs of adjacent French windows, with a six-pane window either side, and four-pane, centrally pivoted windows above. The ground floor classrooms had a slightly narrower frontage and only two pairs of French windows divided by a standard six-

33 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010 pane window. These are all uPVC replacements which retain the style and arrangement of the originals, although with top-hinged upper windows. The remainder of the fenestration on the south elevation is of square-headed windows with dressings of alternating blue and red bricks. The east and west elevations are similar with regular fenestration, mostly square headed. The ground floor of the west elevation has French windows. The rooftop playground is virtually unaltered with its red-tiled stair buildings and shelters with wooden trusses supported on cast-iron columns. To the rear of the hall block is a modern small, single-storey, flat-roofed, extension with a glazed entrance lobby. This is not of special interest. INTERIOR: Original features of note include parquet floors to halls and corridors, blue, cream and orange dado tiling (overpainted in places), internal glazing and glazed doors to classrooms. The stairs retain their plain metal banisters with wooden handrails. On the stairs on the first floor are two wooden memorial boards (LCC Brave Deeds Boards) recording the names of pupils who had rescued people from drowning in the Regent's Canal. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The original cast-iron railings, panelled brick boundary wall and gate piers to the front elevation remain (the section of boundary wall to the east of the eastern end of the railings is not of special interest), as do the original metal railings to the rooftop playground. The eastern playground has high stock brick retaining walls to Noel Street and there is also a boundary wall on the canal side of the site supported on retaining walls above the towpath. These are not of special interest. HISTORY: Originally named Hanover Street Board School (from the previous name of Noel Road) it was originally opened in 1877 with places for 828 boys, girls and infants, rising to 1,229 by 1893. It was a typical three-storey London Board school built on a restricted site south of Hanover Street at its junction with St Peter's Street, adjacent to the Regent's Canal and just east of City Road Lock. The present school was built in 1931-2 by the London County Council (LCC) slightly to the west of the Board school which was demolished due to subsidence resulting from its location next to the canal. The creation of the new school, designed by the LCC Architects Department, involved the demolition not only of the original school but twelve houses in the terrace to the west to give an enlarged site. Despite this extra space it was still a relatively restricted site and the new school followed the earlier Board school in being multi-storey (as was usually the case where the LCC replaced existing Board schools), despite the prevailing trend for single-storey primary schools where space allowed. Most of the original site of the school was used to create a large playground to the east of the new school which was, nonetheless, larger than the original school and allowed for lower-density classrooms. The new school reflected current thinking regarding school design in its single-banked classrooms which opened out onto balconies overlooking the canal through French windows, allowing maximum ventilation and light. Fresh air and good lighting had been a major preoccupation with health practitioners, educationalists and, eventually, schools architects such as George Widdows in Derbyshire, George Reid in Staffordshire, RG Kirkby in Bradford and WH Webb in London, since the early 1900s. This movement of hygiene-led schools design reached its culmination in the separate block planned, open-air special schools which began to be built in the years prior to World War I and reached their heyday in the 1920s. Hanover School is a successful attempt to merge the Board school 'triple-decker' approach to schools design with the, then current, health and hygiene driven approach of the open-air schools.

34 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

SOURCES: Cherry, Bridget and Pevsner, Nikolaus, Buildings of England: London 4 - North (1999) p673 Franklin, Geraint, Inner-London Schools 1918-44: A Thematic Study (2009) LCC Schools Plans (1931) Seaborne, Malcolm and Lowe, Roy, The English School: Its Architecture and Organisation - Vol. II 1870-1970 (1977) REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Hanover Primary School is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: for its unusual design in a mixture of Arts and Crafts and stripped classical styles; * Historic interest: considered one of the best examples of the adaptation by the London County Council Architects Department of the Victorian Board school's 'Triple- decker' design to embrace the hygiene-led approach of the open-air schools of the period; * Materials: for its high quality brickwork detailing; * Interior: for good survival of original internal fabric, including evocative Brave Deeds boards associated with its canalside location and, overall, good retention of the original plan form; * Setting: for its prominent position overlooking the Regent's Canal.

35 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

Appendix 2

36 Hanover Primary School Heritage Statement  MetroMOLA 2010

37 Hanover Primary School