Elmslie School was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

girls' school in the English seaside resort of

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England, from 1918 to 2000. The school was established in a former house called the Elms, and later expanded into other buildings on the site. The Elms has been designated a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

History

The Elms was originally the family home of William and Sarah Powell, built in 1896 to a design by T. P. Worthington. Elmslie School was founded in 1918 by sisters Elizabeth, Polly and Peggie Brodie. The school, called Ellerslie School, which occupied the former home of the Powell family, had just 11 pupils to start with; Elizabeth Brodie was the first headmistress. She remained headmistress until 1952. The school moved to the Elms in 1922 and changed its name to Elmslie Girls' School. In 1941, the school became a day school and by 1945 had 353 pupils.Cowie, p. 130 The

Diocese of Blackburn The diocese of Blackburn is diocese of the Church of England in North West England. Its boundaries correspond to northern Lancashire. The diocese contains 211 parishes and 280 churches. Blackburn Cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Blackburn ...

's Board of Finance ran the school from 1948. In 1987 the school became an associated

Woodard School Woodard Schools is a group of Anglican schools (both primary and secondary) affiliated to the Woodard Corporation (formerly the Society of St Nicolas) which has its origin in the work of Nathaniel Woodard, a Church of England priest in the Anglo-C ...

. Elmslie closed in 2000. On 15 March 1995 English Heritage designated the Elms a Grade II listed building.

Architecture

The Elms is a two-storey house built on an L-shaped plan, of red brick, with a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

front

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

. There are three

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

s at the front, the left-hand of which is

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d. Both the left and right bays have small

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

s on either side of the upper windows; the left turrets are topped with

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

s, the right with

crenellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

caps. The central front entrance has a

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

with

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

columns. Internally, many of the building's original fittings are intact. During the building's use as a school the following additions were made to the site: gymnasium and assembly hall (1938), more classrooms in the Fisher block (1952), a chapel (1959) and VI Form Centre and music rooms (1988).Cowie, pp. 130-31

References

{{Blackpool buildings Defunct schools in Blackpool Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire Educational institutions established in 1918 1918 establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 2000 2000 disestablishments in England

History

Architecture

See also

References