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

storey, double-height block to the north of the courtyard. The hall and gymnasium wereseparated by a folding partition enabling a single large space to be created if necessary.These double-height spaces had to be top-lit, because of the adjoining, south-facingcovered way. The hall breaks forward from the block and is also distinguished by itsround-headed windows. Opposite is the south-facing, single-banked classroom range. It issymmetrical with a central entrance and first-floor library.Honor Oak was the only inner-London secondary school to be built with open-airclassrooms. Each classroom is fitted with full-width, glazed folding doors which overlookthe playing fields. Bottom- and centre-hung casements enable the classrooms to beventilated during inclement weather. Large windows in the courtyard-facing walls openonto a two-storey veranda supported on brick piers. The veranda continues aroundthe quadrangle at ground floor level, and the first-floor ‘gallery’ access to the classroomsterminates in stairs located within the short west and east ranges. Piecemeal additions tothe site detract from the setting of the original building, especially the principal elevation.For the constrained site of the Burlington Secondary School for Girls, Burnet Tait &Lorne chose an end-hall plan (see appendix 4). The dining and assembly hall is setperpendicular to the single-banked classroom range to shield it from the busy WoodLane. The gymnasium is set at the south end. The strong vertical emphasis of the centralpupils’ entrance and stairs, with its distinctive corner glazing, separates the four-storeyclassroom block from the three-storey laboratory block. The laboratory block originallyhad a playground roof, but has since been heightened, albeit in a sympathetic manner. Anopen flight of steps to a first-floor foyer provides a ‘ceremonial entrance’ directly fromWood Lane.Fig 60: Honor Oak School, L B Southwark (LCC AD, 1930-31).(L M A : ACC /3560/017; City of London, London Metropolitan Archives).‘Burlington is the foremost London example of the use of a ‘Dutch modern’ style for aschool. Each element is articulated in the layout, making a reading of each function easy.But at the western, street-facing elevation, a rather more arbitrary and contrived visualsense predominates: volumes are piled up to create a composition of masses. Otherdecorative touches—the nautical porthole windows and ocean-liner handrails—betrayTait’s Art Deco leanings. His principal influence at this time was Dudok, whom Tait© ENGLISH H ER I TAG E 43 - 20 0963