The Building of St Edward's School: A Chronology (1870 - 2020)

P AGE N O : 96 With forty elm trees on the School’s property, the costs on inoculation against ‘Dutch Elm Disease’ will be £300 (£5,370 today) (Governors’ Meeting, March 1973). Decision taken not to go ahead with the spraying of the trees (General Purposes, May 1973). 1974 - Planning permission now gained for the New Hall ( Peter Falconer design ) and with the Appeal reaching £153,000 (£2,509,200 today), a start during the summer of 1974 is envisaged (May Chronicle). T.H. Kingerlee & Sons will again be the builders. Building will take 50 weeks with completion by mid September 1975 (General Purposes, May 1974) The removal of the first four rows of pews to make space for an altar closer to the congregation considered a success (Governors’ Meeting, February 1974) In March 1974 Jack Tate, then the School’s Archivist, wrote a summary of the School’s buildings as of that date which he emphasizes ‘cover only those buildings in which important or complex changes have occurred’. • Apsley - established in Apsley Paddox (building later called Field House) in 1925. Moved to Main Buildings in 1931 • Armoury - the first such building was sited within the Workshops on the northern perimeter wall in 1905. The second incarnation was in 1920 was where the Changing Rooms were built. The third Armoury was where the Gymnasium was later established in 1927 • Changing Rooms - first built as a Gymnasium converted to Changing Rooms in 1927 • Class rooms M1 and M2 were Sing’s and Apsley studies until 1965 ( when they were demolished ). These class rooms were re-built in 1966 as a wooden prefab between the Common Room and Indoor Pool and finally demolished again in 1994 • Corfe House - built by Simeon in 1890. He never lived there and it became part of the School in 1918. Its original name was ‘Field House’ and under this name it became a School boarding house in 1925. In 1931 the name ‘Field House’ (and its occupants) were transferred to Apsley Paddox and Cowell’s House moved in. It acquired its present name in 1936 after Cowell’s moved to their present site • Dining Room (Small) - originally in 1873 the School Room. After Big School was built it was divided into two large class rooms and one small class room (this was at the South end, being the VIth Form Room). The two large class rooms became Day Rooms under the names of ‘New Zealand’ (Northern end) and ‘Natal’ at the Southern end in 1909. Later the whole was divided into a Surgery (Northern end) and Junior Day-Rooms for Sing’s (Northern End) and Apsley (Southern end) • Gymnasium - first built as an Armoury and converted into a Gymnasium in 1965 • Gymnasium Floor - this was laid over the Indoor Swimming Bath to enable it to be used as a Gymnasium in the Autumn and Spring terms - 1965 • Boarding Houses - the buildings were not arranged according to houses until 1925 • ‘The Hollies’ - the second site for the School Sanatorium (or Sick House) 1875-1887 when this function was moved to the New Buildings after which the Hollies became staff quarters • Lodge - used partly as Masters’ quarters until 1945. Wilfrid Cowell occupied the room above the archway for 54 years • Macnamara’s House - established in the New Buildings in 1925