Sheffield Central Technical School

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The former Sheffield Central Technical School was housed in the collection of buildings now called Leopold Square in the city centre of Sheffield England. The complex of buildings that were home to the school is bounded by Leopold Street, West Street, Orchard Lane, and Holly Street.

1 Origin
2 History
3 Future
4 References

[edit] Origin

During the late 19^th century Sheffield city centre underwent a significant redevelopment. Along with concepts of mass production the industrial revolution encouraged the development of mass education. This collection of education buildings was the synthesis of this concept in Sheffield. The Schools were established to provide a technical knowledge base to support the emerging manufacturing industries of the age and no doubt have contributed to Sheffield’s position as the most significant steel manufacturing city in the world.

[edit] History

The key buildings on the site were built between 1874 and 1894. The buildings are robust ornate stone structures typical of the civic architecture of the time generally described as English Renaissance Revivalist in style.

Initial drawings for the Central Schools development were produced following the Education Act of 1870, the buildings were also to house the Sheffield Schools Board formed out of the Act. The construction was to commence in 1876 following acquisition of the land which was formerly home to workshops, and terrace housing.

The first buildings on the site were designed by Local Architect T R Flockton in collaboration with E R Robson and were technically advanced for their time incorporating heating and ventilation techniques that were rarely seen, not only distributing warm/cool air but also purifying the incoming air from the many external pollutants. The Houses of Parliament in London was the only other building of the time to utilise such technology.

The site was initially home to the Firth College, the Central Technical Schools and the Sheffield Schools Board. These first buildings were completed by 1880. The Firth College is specifically notable for its benefactor: Mark Firth - a successful local steel manufacturer and philanthropist, and for later becoming the University of Sheffield following its amalgamation with the Technical School and Medical School in Sheffield in 1897 and moving to a new larger site 8 years later.

The school was extended between 1894 and 1899 with a building on Bow Street (no longer a road) to form an infants school with a roof top playground, and the Pupil Teacher Centre on Holly Street which was built in a Gothic Revival style of architecture by H W Lockwood.

As Urban populations migrated to the suburbs throughout the twentieth century the role of the Central School increasingly became unworkable, eventually leading to its closure in the 1930s. The school re-opened as High Storrs School in Ecclesall, and the association for former pupils of High Storrs retains the historical connection in its name, the Old Centralians.^[1]

[edit] Future

Despite the closure of the school , the buildings were occupied by the education offices of Sheffield City Council up until 2001 when its redevelopment into apartments, a hotel, and bars/restaurants, by local architects Axis Architecture, began.