Charles Edward Brooke School

Charles Edward Brooke School
Charles Edward Brooke School
Location	Camberwell, London
Coordinates	51°28′33″N0°06′08″W / 51.475934°N 0.102288°W / 51.475934; -0.102288
Built	1900
Architect	Philip A. Robson
Architectural style	Renaissance style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Kennington Boys' School
Designated	27 March 1981
Reference no.	1184669
Shown in London

Charles Edward Brooke School was a Church of England secondary school in Lothian Road in Camberwell, London, England. The school, which is currently vacant and in need of significant repair, is a Grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

The building was commissioned as a training college for teachers. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Cicely Gore, Viscountess Cranborne in July 1899. It was designed by Philip A. Robson in the Renaissance style, built by J. Garrett and Son in red brick and was opened as St. Gabriel's Church Training College for women teachers in 1900. ^[2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage in seven sections facing onto Lothian Road. These sections included a three-storey central block of five bays, flanked by six-storey towers surmounted by spires and, beyond that, three-bay wings surmounted by stepped gables. ^[1]

During the First World War, the building was requisitioned by the War Office to create the 1st London General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties. ^[3] The poet and pacifist, Vera Brittain, worked as a nurse at the hospital during the war. ^[4]

After the Second World War, it became Kennington Boys' School and later the Charles Edward Brooke Girls' School, named after the "well-known Anglo-Catholic figure" and Vicar of St John the Divine, Kennington ^[5] who had funded the College chapel, which was dedicated in 1903. ^[2] From 2006 to 2008 it hosted the Charles Edward Brooke Refugee Centre. ^[6]

After the establishment closed, the building fell vacant and was placed on the Heritage at Risk Register. ^[7] It was transferred to the ownership of Lambeth Council in 2021, but a survey commissioned by the council suggested repairs costing £1.5 million were needed. ^[8]

The former chapel was marketed as a home in 2023 for an asking price of £2.95 million. ^[9] The building was included on the Victorian Society's Top Ten Endangered Buildings list in May 2024. ^{[10] [11]}

References

1. Historic England. "Kennington Boys' School (1184669)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 December 2025.
2. "Myatt's Fields, Denmark Hill and Herne Hill: Introduction and Myatt's Fields area Pages 141-145 Survey of London: Volume 26, Lambeth: Southern Area". British History Online. LCC 1956. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
3. "First London General Hospital". Lost Hospitals of London. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
4. "Testament of Youth: a volunteer's WWI memoir of a lost generation!". British Red Cross. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
5. Dowland, David A. (1997). Nineteenth-century Anglican Theological Training: The Redbrick Challenge. Clarendon Press. ISBN   9780198269298.
6. "Charles Edward Brooke Refugee Centre". Get Information About Schools. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
7. "St Gabriel's College, Cormont Road, Lambeth SE5 - Lambeth". Historic England. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
8. "Victorian Brixton school faces ruin amid £1.5 million repair bill". Southwark News. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
9. "Detached house for sale in St. Gabriels Manor, Cormont Road, London SE5" (PDF). Unique Properties. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
10. "Former London school where author Vera Brittain nursed during WWI is on Victorian Society's Top Ten Endangered Buildings list 2024". The Victorian Society. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
11. "Why a Kennington school is one of UK's 'at risk' buildings". BBC. Retrieved 23 December 2025.