The Martyrs’ Public School, in Parson Street in the

Townhead Townhead ( gd, Ceann a' Bhaile, sco, Tounheid) is an area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated immediately north-east of Glasgow city centre and contains a residential sector (redeveloped from an older neighbourhood in the mid 20th ...

area of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, is one of the earlier works of architect

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

. Until recently, an arts centre run by Glasgow Museums, it is now home to Glasgow City Council's Social Work Leaving Care Services. It is protected as a

category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being *Categories (Aristotle), ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) ...

. Stranded above the main road it was once set in the middle of a densely populated area of

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

buildings. It was built following the

Education (Scotland) Act 1872 The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 62) made elementary education for all children between the ages of 5 and 13 mandatory in Scotland. The Act achieved a more thorough transfer of existing schools to a public system than the 18 ...

which provided for increased public expenditure on education. Commissioned by the School Board of Glasgow and built between 1895 and 1898, the architects were

Honeyman and Keppie Honeyman and Keppie was a major architectural firm based in Glasgow, created by John Honeyman and John Keppie in 1888 following the death of James Sellars in whose architectural practice Keppie had worked. Their most notable employee was Charles ...

. At the time, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a senior assistant in the practice and his influence can be seen in the building, especially in the details. It was built largely of

red sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) be ...

, as were many of Glasgow’s public buildings of this period, and has many hints of Scotland’s architectural heritage. Inside there is a light central open space, used for access and for school assemblies. Above this two galleries run around the building, giving access to classrooms. Another classroom block spread to the north. There are

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

details round the doorways, which indicate separate entrances for ''Boys'', ''Girls'' and ''Infants'', as was the custom of the time. The ironwork is often fine, as is the woodwork. The external massing and windows have attracted varying comment. The building served for many years as the non-denominational public school for Townhead. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, following another Education Act, it became the Martyrs’ Primary School. In 1959 it was briefly a part of

Stow College Stow College was a college in Glasgow in Scotland. History The college was named after David Stow, whose primary teaching seminary was founded close to the college at Dundasvale. Stow was the first purpose-built Further Education college in Gl ...

, but in 1961 became an annex to St Mungo’s Academy and remained so until 1973. It was an Arts Centre for a little time, run by Forum Arts Trust,

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External links

* * * * * {{coord, 55.8653, -4.2374, type:edu_region:GB, display=title School buildings completed in 1898 Charles Rennie Mackintosh buildings Defunct schools in Glasgow Former school buildings in the United Kingdom Category A listed buildings in Glasgow Art Nouveau architecture in Glasgow Art Nouveau educational buildings