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

designs, the second of 1937 with Mary Crowley (later Medd) and Gerald Flower for themanufacturers Boulton and Paul.Notwithstanding, most urban nursery schools made use of older houses, such as theChelsea Open Air Nursery School. The remodelling of a Victorian villa in Holland Parkfor the 1936 Hampden Nursery School, L B Kensington & Chelsea by Wells Coates,assisted by the young Denys Lasdun, demonstrated that even the smallest nursery couldbenefit from modern design.Nursery schools and crèches could also be integrated into social housing schemes, thebest example of which is the Kensal House Day Nursery, L B Kensington and Chelsea, of1936-38 (grade II * ) with Maxwell Fry (1899-1987) as executive architect. Fry positionedthe school on part of the site of an old gasholder, from which it derives its curve. Theschool, for 60 children, was kept as low as possible, to avoid compromising views fromthe adjoining flats, and to acknowledge that, in Fry’s words, ‘babies pass their livessurprisingly near the floor’. 4 The school routine, and the open-air aspect of the design,owed much to the McMillan method.The school is steel-framed with an asphalt roof, metal-framed windows and renderedbrick infill. The three ‘playrooms’ have intervening WCs and lockers. The classroomsare insulated by a corridor to the north, and heated by over-head radiant heaters withconcealed heating pipes. The inner, south-facing elevations have folding and sliding Frenchwindows over a blue-tiled sill. The windows are sheltered by a boldly cantilevered canopy‘so that windows can be kept open in spite of rain’, and above that a glazed clerestoreyto induce cross-ventilation. The playrooms opened on to a terrace edged by concreteplanting boxes, beyond which was a play area containing a paddling pool, sand pit andjungle gym.Fig. 49: Herbert Felton photograph of the Kensal House Day Nursery, L BKensington and Chelsea; Maxwell Fry, 1936-38 (NMR :CC47/02796).© ENGLISH H ER I TAG E 43 - 20 0954