Building    To 1872

Enfield school-house / station

Categories: Education, Property, Transport

the V&A (our picture source) hold in their collection part of the façade of this building (not just the photo but the bricks themselves). Alamy have a photo of the saved section of the façade erected inside a building, presumably the V&A. The section is that of the central first floor including the segmental pediment.

The V&A write: "This brick house frontage was possibly built by or for Edward Helder, a bricklayer (d. 1672), after the designs of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). It formed part of the school-house in which the poet John Keats received the greater of his education (about 1803-1810). At a later date {the plaque says 1849} the building became part of Enfield Railway Station. The station was demolished in 1872; the façade however was saved, and originally purchased for the Structural Collection of the Science Museum, then part of the South Kensington Museum."

Literary By-Paths in Old England by Henry C Shelley is quoted by Alamy, as follows:  "Cowden Clarke, the son of the master of the school, narrates that it had been built by a West India merchant in the latter end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century. It was of the better character of the domestic architecture of that period, the whole front being of the purest red brick, wrought by means of moulds into rich designs of flowers and pomegranates, with heads of cherubim over niches in the centre of the building. Because it was such an excellent example of the early Georgian facade of Keats's Schoolhouse domestic architecture, and not because it formed part of the building in which Keats was educated, the façade of this Enfield schoolhouse escaped the usual fate of demolished bricks and mortar, and may now be seen in an annex of the South Kensington Museum, London..."

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Enfield school-house / station

Commemorated ati

John Keats - Enfield

The house which stood on this site was built in the late 17th century. Later ...

Read More

Keats, D'Israeli, Clarke at Enfield

According to Enfield Borough this plaque, together with the remaining plaque,...

Read More

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

Other Subjects

Lilian Faithfull

Lilian Faithfull

English teacher, headmistress, women's rights advocate, magistrate, social worker and humanitarian. Born Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, she graduated with a first in English at Oxford University in 188...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Alan Charles Senitt

Alan Charles Senitt

Alan Charles Senitt was born on 26 December 1978, the eldest of the three children of Jack Adrian Senitt (1949-2011) and Karen B. Senitt née Kosky (b.1952). His birth was registered in the 1st quar...

Person, Education, Tragedy, USA

1 memorial
Christ Church School, SW3

Christ Church School, SW3

Christ Church itself was built in 1839 and quickly established its Sunday School, initially only for boys and in rented premises in Flood Street. Then Lord Cadogan donated the land directly opposit...

Building, Children, Education, Property

4 memorials
King's College, London

King's College, London

Founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington (then PM). In 1836 Kings with University College London formed the foundation of the University of London. Kings has five campuses: Strand; Guy'...

Group, Education

5 memorials