The British School, Wrexham
Brook Street (demolished)
The British Schools were mostly set up by Nonconformists, unlike the National Schools which were associated with the established church. This is the only British School Penson is known to have designed. It opened in 1844.
Exterior
The school had a narrow, gable-entry façade: the other elevations appear to have been plain though no early images have been found. The black and white photograph was taken in 1988.
The Coflein entry describes the building as being ‘in the Lombardic/Italian Sub-Classical style’. In fact it was in the ‘Jacobean’ manner Penson adopted for the Butcher’s Market and some of his country houses, though perhaps less subtly detailed. It had a big, curly gable. The mullioned windows were obscured by boarding in the colour photograph, taken in 2016.
In 1901 the school moved out to a new Board School and the following year the building re-opened as a Calvinistic Methodist chapel, known as Victoria Hall. This closed in 1960 and the old school became a night club. In 2016 it was offered for sale with consent for conversion to student accommodation, but failed to find a buyer.
The building was demolished in 2019 and the site was occupied in 2020 by a taxi firm.
Text: John Hainsworth
