Allan Glen Secondary School (Former)
Date 28 November 2013
Event ID 967589
Category Management
Type Site Management
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/967589
4 storeys and basement Classically inspired Board School, with stepped facades and dentilled cornice construction of squared and snecked pink sandstone with ashlar dressings and details, and rock faced base courses.
Built as Canning Place Public School, to accommodate 1090 pupils, at a cost of £17,500. The school is of local significance as the sole surviving pre-WWI building in the immediate area. A well detailed example of Scottish school design at the end of the 19th century, and by a respected practice, it retains its Janitor's House (in separate ownership) and parts of its boundary walls.
The practice name, Burnet, Boston & Carruthers, was only used between 1901-08, although Frank Burnet began his practice in 1889. Most of the work of Burnet´s office executed before 1901 and after 1908 goes under the name of Burnet & Boston. Frank Burnet (1846-1923) mainly designed tenements before being joined in practice by William James Boston (1861-1937), in 1889, thereafter branching out to do all types of commission. This is their only known school however, and it was executed at the time when most of the design work was undertaken by James Carruthers (1872-1952) and John A Campbell.
The school building has an alternative community use as the Phoenix Centre, for complimentary therapies (2010). Some original features, such as timber partitions and tiled walls are extant in the interior, alongside later work from the 1960s and 1970s when the building served as an annexe for Allan Glen's School. Classroom interiors have been largely stripped of original detail, although an Edwardian fireplace has survived in the headmaster's study. The janitor's house had been sealed by the time of viewing and the only visible window frames were non-original. While the roof structure of the house appeared intact, the stonework showed signs of wear. The school has lost much of its context due to the demolition of the surrounding tenements from which its pupils were drawn, and especially by the loss of the rest of the pre-1950s streetscape, including Canning Place, the cul-de-sac which it originally terminated. Some ancillary buildings, presumably lavatories and shelters, shown on the 1908 OS map have also been lost, together with the playground to the W of the school.
List description revised and change of category from B to C(S), 2011. (Historic Scotland)
