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Summary

Description

William Williamson, 1901. Single storey, 9-bay, broadly T-plan school building with symmetrical gables and Art Nouveau influences. (1955 addition to the west elevation by Fife County Architects is not considered of special interest in listing terms at the time of review). Slightly advanced 3-bay gable to centre, flanked by dormer windows with pointed-arch pediments breaking eaves at 2nd and 8th bays. Squared and snecked sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and ashlar base course. Carved thistle motifs to gables and dormers. Timber roof lantern with slightly battered angles, classical hoodmoulds, ogee-cap and metal weathervane finial. Rounded and corbelled corner angles to rear. Rounded pediments to dormers breaking eaves to rear. Slightly swept pitch to piended roofs.

Predominantly multi-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames. Cast iron rainwater goods. Grey slates. There is a sloping grassed bank to the front of the building with a stepped retaining wall with chamfered copes.

Statement of Special Interest

The design of the former Anstruther Easter School (now Waid Academy Annexe) blends restrained Art Nouveau influences in its shouldered, pointed-arch dormers and stylised thistle motifs with neo-Baroque elements including the key-stoned arch hoodmoulding and scrolled finial surmounting the central bay. The roof pitch is slightly swept near the eaves suggesting the bell-cast roof shape reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts style, and the survival of the distinctive timber ridge lantern is also uncommon in schools of the period. These styles were flourishing, particularly in Glasgow, around the turn of the 20th century, but were relatively uncommon for buildings in a rural burgh in Fife. The principal elevation largely retains its early 20th century form and building fabric and the building is a focal point in the town, on an elevated site at a junction near the centre of Anstruther.

The 1872 Education (Scotland) Act placed responsibility for education in the hands of locally elected school boards and elementary education was made compulsory for all children aged 5 to 13. The boards were also responsible for providing adequate school buildings and there was a surge in school building across Scotland after this date. Anstruther Easter School was built in 1901 and was designed by local architect, William Williamson. It is described in the 1901 September issue of 'The Builder' as 'a new school has been erected by the Anstruther School Board at the west end of Melville Terrace. The school was designed by Messrs Williamson and Inglis, architects, Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh and provides accommodation for 320 pupils. The classrooms are planned so that, by means of sliding screens, a large room is provided. The building has two entrances and a corridor 10 feet wide running from end to end. From it the five classrooms enter, three being used by senior pupils and two by infants'.

The Dictionary of Scottish Architects refers to William Williamson as 'one of the most accomplished Scottish architects of his generation' and notes the 'calm French-influenced neo-Baroque of his commercial buildings'. Williamson lived and practiced in Kirkcaldy for most of his life, designing a wide variety of buildings in the town. He formed a partnership with John Inglis in 1897 and the practice quickly made a name for themselves producing high quality Renaissance and Arts and Crafts work. Auchterderran School (1902) by Williamson adopts a similar style to Anstruther Easter on a slightly larger scale, and their other school buildings include Dysart Primary School (1914) in the 'Queen Anne' style (see separate listing).

References

Bibliography

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