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Summary

Description

Andrew Heiton Jnr, dated 1892. 3-storey, rectangular plan, free Jacobean style school with symmetrical, 3-bay elevations, situated on prominent corner site. Squared and snecked red sandstone with ashlar margins. Base course, cill course, band course, cornice. Dutch gables; bipartite windows with stone mullions and transoms, some round headed.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: W (principal) elevation: 3-bay advanced dutch gabled section to centre; swan-necked with niched, segmental-arched gablehead. Central entrance portico to ground with finely carved pediment on applied Tuscan columns. Flanking 3-bay recessed areas with central Dutch style wallhead gables. Later, steel escape stair added to left recessed area.

N and S elevations: 4-bay recessed section to centre with central wallhead dutch gable; flanking advanced 2-bay dutch gables.

Predominately timber windows, fixed lights with top hoppers. Grey Cumberland slates. Tall ashlar sandstone stacks to central ridge. Timber panelled doors, some part-glazed with decorative brasswork.

INTERIOR: centrally planned, large double-height atrium with hammerbeam roof trusses supported by hemi-spherical arches, housing interlocking but separate stairs for girls and boys. Oval light wells to 1st floor landings. N & S sides of ground and 1st floor plans occupied by classrooms and cloakrooms. Retractable timber and glass partitions to classrooms. Mezzanine 2nd floor with classrooms to four corners and long, multi-use spaces to the N and S, characterised by exposed, cast-iron, arched roof beams. Wrought iron decorative balusters, carved timber handrails, double tongue and groove timber boarding and classically detailed timberwork throughout.

ADVANCED DEPARTMENT BUILDING: to NE. Dated 1900. 2-storey and attic 5-bay annex with advanced end bays. Red sandstone with smooth margins. Key-stoned, segmental-arched openings to ground. Street elevation to N with Ionic pilasters detail to 1st storey.

Interior: halls to upper level, one with timber boarding. Part-glazed entrance door with multi-pane, semi-circular fanlight above and side lights.

WROUGHT IRON RAILINGS AND GATES: original railings survive to W and SE site boundaries. Rounded stone base; wrought iron, stylised floreate piers; stanchions with alternating voluted and spiked finials.

Statement of Special Interest

Caledonian Road School is an impressive and landmark building on the edge of Perth city centre, designed by celebrated Perth architect Andrew Heiton Jnr, and dated 1892. Heiton Jnr perhaps did more than any other architect to shape the character of later 19th century Perth, and Caledonian Road School is both striking and meticulously detailed. Following the introduction of compulsory elementary education in the early 1870s this style was found to be particularly suited to the resulting new school buildings, as it lent itself to the demands of space and light which were deemed necessary for the children. Although internal planning was adapted over the years, the architectural style was sufficiently durable for this building type that it survived well into the 1890s, as is shown by Caledonian Road School (Girouard, pp 44-50). The style also lent itself well to constricted sites, of which Caledonian Road is a clear example. The school sits on the corner of Caledonian Road (W) and Alexandra Street (S), with the playground wrapping around the N and E sides of the building, making all four elevations clearly visible as public faces. It unusually retains some of the original decorative railings around the perimeter of the school grounds. A later 'Advanced Department' building sits to the NE, dated 1900. Although the school is very traditional and austere in appearance, the design was forward thinking and innovative, making light and ventilation key elements of the finished building and also demonstrates adaptable teaching spaces, an idea adopted much later in modern school design. The distinctive red sandstone used in the construction of the school came from Corncockle Quarry in Dumfries.

List descrition updated as part of Perth Burgh resurvey, 2010.

References

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