Inverness Royal Academy 1913 extension: exterior, from the corner of Midmills Road and Kingsmills Road, around 1920
ID:PC_ROYALACADEMY2_015DESCRIPTION:In 1895 Inverness Royal Academy moved from its original site in New Street (now Academy Street) to a new site in the Crown district of the town. The accommodation in the original building was not suited to the type of education required at the end of the nineteenth century. Further developments, and a growing school, led to the construction of a major extension on the south side of the site, running along Midmills Road, to provide laboratories and art classrooms, along with a gymnasium. The rooms in the main building formerly used as laboratories and as an art room were then converted to general classroom use.
Planning was set in motion in 1910, and tenders were accepted in November 1911. The new building, on the right of this photograph, was officially opened in January 1913 by J. Annan Bryce, MP, with a large attendance of local dignitaries. An agreement was worked out whereby the High School (which at this stage was still located in the building now used as the Crown School) would share some staff and the new accommodation with the Academy. Several photographs of the classrooms survive from about the time of the opening, and these photographs suggest that little was to change in these rooms between their opening and the time the Royal Academy moved to its new site at Culduthel in 1979.
There were four science laboratories on the ground floor, along with the gymnasium. The art rooms were on the first floor along with a science lecture room, later converted for use as a music room. Toilets and cloakrooms were also included. The total cost was something like £8000, towards which the Scotch Education Department, as it was then called, provided a grant of £2500. The balance was shared between the ratepayers of Inverness town and the County of Inverness. Shortly after its opening the Continuation Classes in science and art (held in the evening for those who had left school) were moved from the High School to the Academy to take advantage of the new facilities. It was not long though before there were problems with a section of the roof, probably due to a design fault. During parts of both the World Wars, the toilet faciltities were used by services personnel quartered in the Crown Church Halls across the road.PLACENAME:InvernessOLD COUNTY/PARISH:INVERNESS: Inverness and BonaDATE OF IMAGE:1913PERIOD:1910sSOURCE:Inverness Royal AcademyCOLLECTION:Inverness Royal Academy (photographs)Asset ID:29902KEYWORDS:
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