Board School, Duke Street, Hulme

MANCHESTER - In the school building about to be erected in Duke-street, Hulme, by the Manchester School Board, accommodation will be provided for 950 places. The contract price of the building is £7,650. The site, which lies between George-street and River-street, is 234 feet in length and 32 feet in width, and the building will be about 200 feet by 32 feet, the remaining portion of the land being intended for a playground. Infants will occupy a portion of the ground floor, the remainder being open to the playground, and intended for recreative purposes only. The architecture is Renaissance in type, and the work will be carried out in brick and terracotta. There will be accommodation in the infants' department for 300 scholars, in the boys' department for 350, and in the girls' department for 300. Messrs. Wilson, Toft, and Huntley are the contractors. [Building News 11 January 1889 page 87]

NEW BOARD SCHOOL IN HULME On Saturday morning the memorial stone of the new Board School in Duke Street, Stretford Road was laid by the Rev Canon Kelly… The stone was inscribed “This memorial stone of the 20th school erected by the City of Manchester School Board was laid by the Rev Canon Kelly, a member of the Board, 6 July 1889.”…. A novel feature of the new school would be a playground for the boys on the roof of the building. The space not covered by the building itself was only large enough for a playground for the girls and infants, so it had been decided that the roof of the building should be perfectly flat in order that it might form a playground for the boys. The cost of the new building would be about £7, 650, but including the cost of the land, the entire cost of the school would be £14,000. …. The new building, the general style of which is a free treatment of the Renaissance, will be of common brick with dressings of the best Ruabon (brick) and terra cotta. The upper portion will be very handsome, the absence of any sloping roof to the frontage in Duke Street giving free scope for originality of treatment. On the ground floor provision will be made for 250 infants, while above, accommodation for 700 boys and girls will be provided. Extra staircases in case of panic will be built for both the boys and girls from the first floor. Leading out from the main rooms of each department there will be two classrooms, and when required the large rooms for the boys and girls on the first floor can be thrown into one. The girls and infants are to have playgrounds on the ground floor, while the boys, as already stated, are to play on the top of the building. A concrete floor is to be placed above the strong iron girders, and on the concrete asphalte will be laid. At each end there will be a portion covered over for times of bad weather. The architects are Messrs Salomons and Steinthal and the contractors for the building Messrs Wilson Tofts and Huntley. [Manchester Guardian 9 July 1889 page 9]

Later: River Street School; Gaythorn Primary School.

Foundation    Memorial stone laid 6 July 1889
Opened        19 May 1890

Reference    Building News 11 January 1889 page 87
Reference    Manchester Guardian 9 July 1889 page 9
Reference    British Architect 12 July 1889 page 9 page 36
Reference    Samantha F Barnes; Manchester Board Schools page 82