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

The open-air schoolCase studies:• Aspen Open-Air school, later The Orchard Centre, Christchurch Road, L B Lambeth. LCC AD,1925; grade II.• Geere House Open-Air school, Stepney Green, L B Tower Hamlets. LCC AD, 1927; unlisted.• Rachel McMillan Nursery School, Creek Road and Stowage, Deptford, L B Greenwich.School architect: Edwin Unwin. Existing buildings of 1918-19, 1921, 1927, 1928, 1931-32, 1933,1935-36 with minor later additions and alterations. The 1918-19 buildings and a memorial toMargaret McMillan are grade II.Although the first English open-air schools were opened in the Edwardian decade, theheyday of the movement in London was the 1920s, when both maintained and nonprovidedschools were built. The open-air school movement originated in Berlin inthe 1890s with an investigation into the living conditions of workers with tuberculosis.This led to the creation of open-air cure stations, some exclusively for children(Kindererholungsstätte). It was thought that health and welfare could be enhanced throughexposure to sunlight, natural ventilation and a regime of physical exercise. 48 The initialemphasis was on healthcare treatment, but soon an educational programme was foundnecessary. Influenced by a nearby cure station, the educational councillor HermannNeufert (1858-1935) opened a Waldschule (forest school) in 1904 at the Berlin suburb ofCharlottenburg. Supported by the Prussian government, this was the origin of the ideaof outside teaching, exercise, solid meals and afternoon rest, and was adopted by manyEuropean countries over the following decade. 49Charlottenburg and other Waldschulen were studied and visited in early 1907 by theAssistant Educational Advisor to the LCC, Dr Frederick Rose, and the LCC subsequentlyopened an experimental open-air school between July and October 1907, the first inEngland. 50 This was located in the recreational grounds of the Royal Arsenal CooperativeSociety in Bostall Wood, L B Greenwich. 51 The following year, teachers from Bostall Woodmade up the staff of new open-air schools at Birley House, Forest Hill, L B Lewisham;Montpelier House, Upper Holloway, L B Islington and Shrewsbury House, Shooter’s Hill,L B Greenwich. The pupils had been selected by the Schools Medical Officer as ‘delicate’,i.e. under-weight or under-nourished children, or those suffering from anaemia orasthma. The London open-air schools were all coeducational.Unlike Bostall Wood, where the buildings were reused, the 1908 open-air schools of theLCC were purpose-built. The LCC hired rectangular Doecker sheds (developed as fieldhospitals) from the German prefabrication specialists Christoph und Unmack; they hadpreviously been used at Charlottenburg. 52 These were open-fronted on one side andventilated by louvres. The Doecker sheds were soon accompanied by square ‘pavilionclassrooms’, lightly framed and raised off the ground on wooden posts. They were opento the air on all sides above dado level, and sheltered by a widely-overhanging pyramidalroof. 53© ENGLISH H ER I TAG E 43 - 20 0970