Mowbray Road, St. Cuthberts House

On 21st October 1886 plans were submitted to construct a new High School on Mowbray Road, Sunderland, within the formal gardens of Carlton House (renamed as such in 1885, prior to that known as Nicholson House). The work was financed by the London Council, who had bought the land in 1885 for £2,300. The new school was designed by Tillman & Tillman, a Sunderland based architectural firm. The foundation stone was laid on 22ⁿd February 1887 by the Dowager Marchioness of Londonderry, with the school finally opening its doors to pupils a year later on the 7th February 1888. In Audrey Sayers’ Sunderland Church High School for Girls: a Centenary History, the original school is described thus: “The only stairs to the basement were the dark narrow twisting ones at the front. In the basement were the cloakroom and a drying-room for children’s clothes in wet weather, the kitchen, dining room, and a coke-fired boiler for the central heating. Most rooms also had open fireplaces. The present (1984) staffroom, office, headmistress’s room and Room 1 were the headmistress’s room, reception room, and assistant mistresses ‘ rooms respectively.
Today’s library was two separate classreooms, and the room behind the hall could be divided into two by a folding partition… the two attics were the resident caretakers’ living accomodation.”
As an interesting side note, apparently the original caretakers were dismissed after only two years due to “insolence and poor cooking” whereupon it became the headmistress’ job to appoint new staff.

The overall layout of the site remained the same until the 1960s, when in 1968, the southern 1940s building was extended north, and two new buildings were constructed to the south of the main school building. At
this time the new toilet/bathroom was added as an extension to the southeast side of the building. The school as a whole closed in 2016.