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Summary

Description

David Henry, 1884-86, school and adjoining school masters house; J Currie, 1909, library/hall addition to rear. Single storey, 7-bay, roughly I-plan school building with advanced gabled outer bays and advanced, square-plan, 3-stage tower to centre in the collegiate Gothic manner. (1930s classroom block by George Sandilands and all 1956 additions by Fife County Architects to the north are not considered of special interest in listing terms at the time of review).

Squared and snecked sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. Base course and moulded eaves course. Mullioned windows. Four-centred arch above main entrance with carved tympanum by John Rhind depicting a ship leaving a castellated harbour. Doorpiece is flanked by buttresses. Tower above has shallow-pointed, louvred openings at third stage and a castellated parapet. Former library/hall adjoining to rear has single storey wings flanking a slightly advanced gable (east elevation) with three tall round-headed windows and shouldered skews.

Predominantly multi-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames. Grey slates, pitched roof. Red clay cresting to ridges. Corniced ridge and end stacks to side and rear elevations.

The interior was seen in 2015. Largely typical of buildings for education of its date, with various later remodelling of spaces and fixtures and fittings to accommodate the changing needs of the school over time. The 1909 assembly hall was reconfigured to form a library during the 1956 remodelling and extension to the school. It retains a well-detailed early 20th century double-height, top-lit, trussed timber ceiling.

Statement of Special Interest

Waid Academy dates from 1884 and is a good example of a school building of this period. Making use of the 16th and 17th century Collegiate Gothic style, the principal elevation with its prominent castellated tower forms a landmark focal point in the town, and it retains a significant proportion of its 19th century form and building fabric, including stone mullioned windows with multi-pane glazing and a fine carved panel depicting a ship and harbour above the main entrance. The adjoining former school master's house was the birthplace of nationally-renowned diplomat and secret agent, Robert Bruce Lockhart. The decorative red ridge tiles to the roof are another distinctive feature. The 1909 library/hall addition to rear is of a similar style to the 1884-86 building, with tall round-arched windows and top-lit double height room with a timber truss ceiling adding.

Waid Academy is a multi-phase school building (ranging mostly from 1884 to 1956) on a large rectangular site extending northwards from St Andrews Road in Anstruther, Fife. The principal section of the building, fronting St Andrews Road, was built in 1884-86 with a prominent square-plan tower at its centre and adjoining former school masters house, together forming a broadly symmetric I-plan. The footprint of the 1884-86 part of the school is shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (1893). An assembly hall/library was added to the rear of the main block in 1909 and this is shown on the 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey map (1919).

Andrew Waid (1736-1803) was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. In 1800 he bequeathed most of his estate for the 'building of an Academy for the accommodation of orphan boys and seamen's boys in indigent circumstances' in his home town of Anstruther. For various reasons the school was not begun until 1884 when commissioners, appointed under the Educational Endowments Act (Scotland) 1882, proposed a scheme to use his money to build a secondary school to serve the East Neuk of Fife. Waid Academy opened on 6 September 1886 and is among the first schools in Scotland created under the 1882 Act and its constitution became a model for other schools which were created or changed as a result of the Act (see Waid Academy Website).

The architect David Henry (1835-1914) was in partnership with Jesse Hall between 1874 and 1884. Henry lived and practiced in St Andrews for most of his life, designing a wide variety of buildings in the town including the prominent 'Rusack's Hotel' (see separate listing) on the Links and the Gibson Hospital. Waid Academy was his first school building. Later examples include Greyfriars Primary School and Madras Infant School in St Andrews.

Further extensions to the north, including the square-plan 1930s block and all circa 1956 additions and alterations are not considered to be of special interest in listing terms at the time of the listing review in 2015.

References

Bibliography

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