inner–london schools 1918–44 a thematic study - English Heritage

‘It was all done in a totally mechanical way. [H.W. Burchett, the schoolsarchitect] produced a complete set of plans. I said ‘But it’s already beendesigned.’ So he said, ‘I don’t want you to design them, I want you to do someelevations’. 26It would be stating the obvious to comment that this practice led to a misleading disparitybetween plan and elevation. At Middlesex, the result was the same, inflexible axial plans,dressed in a superficially-asymmetrical Dudokian garb, as at Lady Banks School, Ruislip(1935-36, grade II; quadrangle), De Bohun School, Enfield (1936, grade II; U-plan), andGreenford County Secondary School, Ealing (1937, quadrangle). The Dutch architectWillem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974), director of public works in Hilversum, Netherlands,was particularly influential on English local educational authorities at this time.Standardisation here refers to any homogenising practice, from the prescription ofcertain materials or construction techniques to the use of model plans, pattern booksor a house style. Both specialisation and standardisation influence the balance betweenthe creative latitude of the individual designer and the corporate identity of the office.The autonomy of the job architect was further eroded by the strict policy of anonymityenforced upon many architects in public service: almost every LCC building was creditedto the omniscient architect to the council, whose ‘signature’ was stamped onto thousandsof design drawings. E.P. Wheeler (Architect to the LCC 1934-39) reformed the traditionaldepartmental policy of anonymity, encouraging job architects to be credited whenschools were featured in the architectural press. 27Standardisation of room sizes and ‘type plans’ had been introduced to London schoolsby T.J. Bailey in late 19th century. 28 The practice was perpetuated by the LCC AD, thelargest architect’s department in Britain, with around 850 staff by 1939. 29 A standardplanning scheme was adopted by the department in 1917 for new elementary schools,based on the unbuilt plan for the ‘Stowage school’, Deptford, L B Greenwich. 30 Thismodel formed the basis of many LCC elementary schools in the 1920s and ‘30s (seeAppendix 4). 31 The LCC schools planning standard was updated in 1934 to give morespacious accommodation, specialist classrooms and to incorporate new educationalideas. 32 Standardisation also embraced projects outside the mainstream elementaryschool programme, such as open-air schools, which were arrangements of standardisedcomponents such as the open-air pavilion classroom.ConstructionThe employment of novel construction techniques and materials in the inter-war periodcan be summarised as a faltering transition from the permanence of the board schoolto the light framing techniques of the post-war schools. Conventional school buildingconstruction in 1918 comprised load-bearing, cavity-brick walls with steel beams andjoists supporting a floor formed from in-situ reinforced concrete. Where a greater glazedarea was required the wall could be refined into a series of piers which carried the ceilingbeams.© ENGLISH H ER I TAG E 43 - 20 0931