The school complex retains significant 1950s and 1960s buildings set within landscaped grounds including entrance gateways, purpose-designed forecourts, assembly and play areas, and a pedestrianised road.
Schools became a community focus, a symbol of progress, and a source of pride, with enduring connections formed with past pupils, parents, and teachers.
[14][15][16][17][18][1] In 1918 a World War I (WWI) honour board was unveiled in the boys school to commemorate the contribution of Kelvin Grove students and staff.
[32][33][34] Site improvements were carried out in 1946 when new fences and concrete retaining walls were constructed around the school perimeters, including along the boundary with Victoria Park Road.
This was a nation-wide occurrence resulting from immigration and the unprecedented population growth now termed the "baby boom", as well as a shortage of architects and skilled tradesmen.
The new buildings were conceived as a complementary pair, addressing opposite corners of the intersection of L'Estrange Terrace and Victoria Park Road.
[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][1] These buildings were designed at a time of transition, when the large Depression-era brick schools were being criticised for their appearance and unsuitability to modern educational philosophies.
New brick buildings were stripped of revival-style ornamentation in favour of a simpler, more streamlined aesthetic, with new features such as horizontal concrete window hoods introduced.
On 30 October 1948, at the laying of the foundation stone, the Minister for Public Works, Bill Power (the local member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Baroona), who had been instrumental in getting support for the project, said that the school would be the most up-to-date in Australia.
[69][70][71] Due to the angular site, it was V-shaped in plan, with two classroom wings linked by the curved entrance bay, which contained a kindergarten room at ground level.
Special designs for infants developed in the 1930s incorporated a large kindergarten room where children sat in a circle around the teacher, a practice that continued after WWII.
[102][103][1] Kelvin Grove State High School opened 23 January 1961 with an enrolment of 344 students, some of whom had to be accommodated in temporary classrooms built into the understorey of Block SA/SB.
By c. 1963 a driveway was built to the east of Block SC, running from L'Estrange Terrace to Victoria Park Road at the intersection with Tank Street.
Normally single storey, at Kelvin Grove a partial understorey, accommodating an open recreation area, was added to the building, due to the slope of the land.
A closed section of Victoria Park Road runs between and connects the campuses, with a public footpath retained along the Junior School boundary.
[1] The Middle and Senior School campus site slopes steeply down to the east and southeast, resulting in a terraced landscape with an oval occupying the lowest ground in the northeast corner.
[1] Source:[1] Block SA/SB is a two-storey building with a hipped roof and a curved entrance bay that links two long wings to form a V-shaped plan.
The building sits on a high point in the terrain and is approached by a series of pathways and steps leading to a triangular platform in front of the main entrance.
[1] The exterior remains largely intact, however the internal layout has been modified within the original concrete frame to create the administration and reception areas.
These modifications include the hipped roofs clad in terracotta tiles, and the brick-enclosed ends of the blocks, punctuated by single rectangular windows with projecting concrete frames.
The place retains excellent, representative examples of government-designed school buildings that were architectural responses to prevailing government educational philosophies, set in landscaped grounds with sporting facilities and assembly and play areas.
[1] Blocks JA (1950) and SA/SB (1952) and their forecourts demonstrate the principal characteristics of a post-war school site plan, being arranged symmetrically along an axis and featuring prominent central entrance bays.
The building interiors contain typical linear layouts of classrooms, staff and store rooms, accessed by a single long corridor along the northern side.
The principal characteristics of this type include: expressed concrete framework with lightweight infill panels of ribbed metal and glazing; brick-enclosed ends of the buildings; banks of awning windows; large classrooms linked by verandahs; fixed glazing and combinations of vertical and horizontal louvres to verandah walls; bag rack balustrades; and standard arrangements of rooms and facilities for specific subjects.
[1] Block SD (1961-1963) demonstrates the principal characteristics of an early-1960s, brick veneer manual training building, with its facebrick exterior; lightweight infill panels of ribbed metal and glazing; banks of awning windows and louvres; steel portal frame construction; southern-facing clerestory windows; metal roof cladding; and large work rooms.
Kelvin Grove State College is important for the aesthetic significance of blocks JA and SA/SB and their forecourts, as they demonstrate beautiful and expressive attributes.
[1] Designed as a complementary pair to be viewed from the intersection of L'Estrange Terrace and Victoria Park Road, these buildings display the beautiful attributes of symmetry and legibility, and are united by their consistent form, scale, high quality materials and aesthetic treatment.
Appreciation of their front elevations is enhanced by being set back behind formal, triangular forecourts and approached by a symmetrical layout of pathways and stairs.
[1] Through their composition and aesthetic treatment, the buildings are expressive of a new phase of school design in Queensland in the post-war period that embraced modern architecture and rejected revival styles.
They typically retain significant and enduring connections with former pupils, parents, and teachers; provide a venue for social interaction and volunteer work; and are a source of pride, symbolising local progress and aspirations.