Aberdare Boys’ Grammar School
School Buildings
The Old Technical and Intermediate School
circa 1894
from School Archives
Although there is no date marked on this photograph, it is of a style similar to another which shows the workmen who built the school. If this is the case then the date is likely to be about July 1894 when the building was completed — although due to legal reasons none of the County Schools in Glamorgan was allowed to open until September 1896.
As for the three men at the gate, the one on the right with a top hat looks very much
like the Reverend Benjamin Evans, Clerk to the Local School Governors. It is
tempting to speculate that the man next to him may be the architect Mr. J.H. Phillips
of Cardiff, and on the left, the contractor Mr. David Jenkins of Swansea.
Behind these men is the Girls’ Entrance that was demolished 7 years later so
that the wing forming the clock tower could be built. Also missing is the chemistry
laboratory, and on the far right, the end gable section was considerably altered,
being extended back into the lower playground and upward giving an additional
storey. As a result kitchens were added on a sub-ground floor and
the staff room and dining room were on the new first floor..
At this time School House was not present either, the tender for this building was
accepted in July 1896, and the builder was the well-known Aberdare contractor
John Morgan of Monk Street. This house was occupied by the first two headmasters
but the opportunity to live there was declined when the third headmaster W.R.
Williams was appointed in 1937.
The design of the school building in this state is almost identical to that
of the The County School for Girls in Bangor — both were designed by J.H. Phillips — although
the school in College Road, Upper Bangor is constructed in Ruabon red brick.