The college used to be housed in the city centre of Leicester, adjacent to the main campus of De Montfort University and located by other buildings of academic interests such as the Daniel Lambert Museum, Newarke House, Leicester Castle and Castle Gardens.

The bridge from where the dead body of Richard III was said to have been thrown from is also a short walk from the original site.

The school was established primarily to feed the Colleges of Art and Technology (later Leicester Polytechnic and now De Montfort University) and the curriculum showed a significant bias towards Craft and other practical subjects.

In 1933 it moved across the road to the site it occupied until 2009, which comprised a three-storey house dating from 1772 with a purpose-built extension and additional buildings for science, and art and design.

In Frazer's time the Gateway (as it was known by locals) became more like a conventional grammar school but retained its commitment to teaching crafts.