page_title: Toowoomba North State School
section_title: Block B - 1950s timber school building
hierarchical_section_title: Toowoomba North State School / Description / Block B - 1950s timber school building
caption_attribution_description: English: 1950s Timber School Building interior, Toowoomba North State School
context_page_description: Toowoomba North State School is a heritage-listed state school at 139 Mort Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1938 to 1957. It was formerly known as Mort Estate National School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 May 2016.
context_section_description: Block B is a T-shaped timber building comprising a former vocational training building (1957) at the western end (orientated north-south) attached to a classroom wing (1951, 53, 56) of six classrooms (orientated east-west). Both sections of the building have gable roofs clad in corrugated metal sheeting. Due to the sloping site, the building is lowset at the western end and highset at the eastern end, with play space beneath five of the classrooms. A verandah along the north side of the classroom wing is linked by a passageway through the centre of the vocational training building to an enclosed western verandah.
  The classroom wing is clad in chamferboards and has large banks of windows along the southern wall. From east to west, the dates of construction for the classrooms are: two classrooms in 1956; one classroom in 1953; and three classrooms in 1951. The different stages of the building's construction are evident by the joinery used: the 1951 and 1953 classrooms have banks of three-light casement windows and fanlights in their southern walls, while the 1956 classrooms have timber awning windows. The westernmost classroom stands on round timber stumps, and the remainder of the classrooms are supported by a combination of round metal poles (modern), square timber posts, square concrete stumps, and timber-framed perimeter and bracing walls.
  Windows and fanlights to the north verandah have been replaced with sliding aluminium windows, however the openings and timber mullions remain. All classrooms are accessed by timber double doors, most with modern hardware, however those accessing the 1956 classrooms are half-glazed board doors with no fanlight and one retains early hardware. The north verandah has a timber floor, bag rack balustrades and a raked ceiling lined with flat sheeting with cover strips. Original glazed screens survive at the far eastern corner. Three sets of stairs provide access - two sets attached to and running parallel with the verandah, and one set added at the eastern end which comes up through the verandah floor, surrounded by a timber rail balustrade.
  All classrooms measure 21 by 24 feet (6.4 by 7.3 m) and have flat internal wall and ceiling linings. Sections of early linings are distinguished by the use of batten or curved cover strips. In the 1956 section, a large opening between the classrooms remains, however folding doors (shown on the original plans) have been removed. Early, half-glazed double doors survive in the centre of the wall between the 1953 and eastern 1951 classrooms. Between the 1951 classrooms, one connecting door has been enclosed, and the other has been removed and a large opening created in its place.
  The vocational training building is clad in weatherboards and stands on square concrete stumps. Windows are predominantly timber awning windows, with double-hung sash windows in the passageway and verandah walls.
  The interior of the vocational training building generally has flat wall and ceiling linings with cover strips. The layout of original rooms - domestic science rooms to the south and manual training rooms to the north - is largely intact, although later partitions have divided up the two larger training rooms. A series of rooms, formerly used for storage and as smaller training rooms, remain in the verandah space. Alterations to the building include the full enclosure of the verandah, installation of a bathroom off the south side of the passageway, the removal of the fitting room partitions in the southeast corner of the domestic science room, and the insertion of additional doors and openings. The building has a variety of doors, most of which are modern, with early examples including half-glazed double and single doors. The verandah has a raked ceiling, and both the passageway and verandah have chamferboard cladding to the walls.
  The understorey of the classroom wing has a concrete floor and low, off-form concrete retaining walls surround the western end of the space. Timber bracing walls beneath the 1956 classrooms are lined with diagonal timber boards. A store room wi
caption: 1950s Timber School Building interior
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