School House, 1830s

William Tite’s famous portico depicted soon after its completion in 1826. The building was described by Pevsner: "The 1820s was the high point for Grecian neoclassicism, adopted as an appropriately serious dress for a variety of institutions... favoured particularly by Nonconformists. Mill Hill School, established in 1807 as the first Nonconformist public school, was provided in 1825-7 with imposing but plain buildings by Wiliam Tite, a long frontage with Grecian colonnade dominating a high ridge of North Middlesex.

Many of Tite’s buildings survive, including the Royal Exchange (1844), and many early railway stations.

The painting illustrates the typical boys’ dress of the time – long grey or white ‘ducks’ (trousers) with short black or blue jackets.