Manchester School Board Competition (Third Premium)

This Board has at length selected the designs sent in by Messrs. Royle and Bennett, of Manchester, for execution, and awarded three premiums of £30, £20, and £10 to Messrs. Horton, Bridgeford and Walker, Mr. Henry Lord, and Mr. William Dawes, respectively. The designs number altogether about 54 sets, and show very varied modes of treatment in many respects.

Mr. Dawes sends two designs, neither of which are exceptionally good. The tower at the junction of the two streets in design A is neither agreeable in design, nor suitable to the purpose of a board school, especially where the cost is so strictly limited. The plan, which comprises two floors and a basement, is the most satisfactory part of this design. Design B presents rather a picturesque exterior, though we cannot consider it altogether appropriate to the use for which the building is intended. It is well broken up; but the crow-steps in the gables are somewhat out of scale. The school is contained in two floors, and a basement playground is shown. The lavatories for boys and girls are provided in mezzanine floors over their respective entrances. The infant's cloak-room would prove to be very inadequate for their number, and their closets are badly placed in the open play-ground. The doors from school to class-rooms are not in the best positions for supervision. The perspective views, which are provided with gilt frames, are boldly and well-drawn. The author is at present superintending the erection of schools in Every- street, Manchester, and may, therefore, be supposed to stand well with the Board; he is right in not seeking to tickle their senses by over-elaborated drawings, but a little more care in mounting, and a freer use of india-rubber at the finish, would have been desirable. [Building News 6 March 1874 page 250-251]

Reference           Building News 6 March 1874 page 250-251