College to sell historic building for cash to plug financial defecit

A CASH-STRAPPED further education college is looking to sell off one of its historic listed buildings in a bid to plug its financial deficit.

- by OLIVIER VERGNAULT

Truro and Penwith College is in the process of putting the Grade II-listed Penzance School of Art in Morrab Road on the market to generate some of the funds it needs.

The college is faced with a £4.2m black hole in its finances and has already confirmed more than 50 members of staff have taken voluntary redundancy.

With the sale of the 1881 art school building, it says, it hopes to save enough money to put the college on a sound financial footing.

Designed by celebrated Cornish architect Silvanus Trevail and Henry White, the Penzance School of Art and Library was the first art school to be established west of Bristol and was the centre of art teaching and exhibition in the county from the late 19th century.

Known for its strong links to the Newlyn School of Arts and painters such as Walter Langley and Stanhope Forbes, it was also used by St Ives potter Bernard Leach during the Second World War after his own studio was damaged by a German bomb. He opened a pottery classroom there in 1947.

Cornwall County Council ran the school from 1984 to 1989, when it passed on that responsibility to Penwith College. In 1995 ownership was transferred to the college and the building continued to serve as a venue for adult art classes.