1760 - St John's Old School - Scandrett Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.227 W 000° 03.680
30U E 703943 N 5709944
This school that was built in two parts (1756 and 1840) is on the east side of Scandrett Street just to the north of Wapping High Street. The buildings ceased to be used as a school in the mid 20th century. The buildings have been made into 4 houses.
Waymark Code: WMNCGZ
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/14/2015
Views: 1
Over the doors of number 6 and 8 are two statues and the inscription:
St John of Wapping
Erected by subscription
AD 1760
supported by
voluntary contributions
Beneath each of the two statues is inscribed:
Founded
AD 1695
There are further inscriptions that state "Girls 50" and "Boys 60" and is assumed to be the number of children the original school could cater for. Over the entrances to the newer part are inscribed "Boys" and "Infants".
The Tower Hamlets website has a brief history of the buildings that tells us:
The property at 2 Scandrett Street forms part of a terrace of buildings (2-8 Scandrett Street) that would originally have made up the St Johns of Wapping Old School, a rare surviving example of an eighteenth century school building.
The school was constructed in two stages: the building to the North (now 6-8 Scandrett Street) formed the original school and was completed in 1756. The building to the South (now 2-4 Scandrett Street) was completed in the 1840’s and created a new wing to the Old School. The new wing differed in style to the original building in that it has a much simpler Soane-like character and roof lanterns.
The building ceased to be used as a school in the mid-twentieth century and by the 1960’s it was derelict - the windows were hoarded up with corrugated iron and majority of the roof was missing. The buildings also suffered some structural damage from bombings during the second world war.
Basic repairs to the buildings were carried out in the 1970’s but were not completed. The Heritage of London Trust considered taking on the buildings in the early 1980’s but this came to nothing. Plans to convert the buildings into office use during the late 1980’s were rejected over objections from English Heritage, and by 1990 the buildings were completely derelict.
The buildings are Grade II listed with the entry at the English Heritage website telling us:
1760. Yellow stock brick with parapet, brick band above ground and 2nd floors, bracketed cornice above 1st floor. Roof not visible. 3 storeys and basement, 4 windows. Central entrance bay with coupled Doric doorcases and twin niches on lst floor containing contemporary figures of boy and girl with pediment above and elliptical window in tympanum. Recessed windows, ground floor segmental heads, 1st floor, semi-circular heads. Early C19, 2 storeyed, 5 windowed southern extension, cornice aligning with that of main building. Blocking course. 3 semi-circular windows, centre 1st floor with archivolts and impost bands. Entrances in end bays with consoles and swags above. Ground floor has single segmental-headed 3 light window in centre.
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