St Martin's School of Art

St Martin's School of Art was established in 1854 and was founded by the parochial authorities of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The vicar, Reverend M McKenzie, and others were concerned that industrial education should be developed and allied to the religious and general education already provided by Church schools. Art education was intended to form part of this industrial instruction for apprentices. The new school was situated on the top floor of St Martin's Northern School in Castle Street (now Shelton Street), north of Long Acre. It is likely that boys from the ages of thirteen onwards were taken, and most classes involved the teaching of design skills. The school became independent of the parish in 1859. By 1884 the number of male and female students was about 100, with courses including drawing, painting and sculpture.

The school was recognised by the Technical Education Board of London County Council in 1894, received a grant of £100 a year and became part of the development of technical education taking place in London and Britain. With the grants St Martin's increased in size from 68 students and 6 teachers in 1891 to 154 students and 21 teachers in 1901. By 1901 the curriculum had been extended by the introduction of technical subjects, and the proportion of artisan to art students was equal. Fine art students had probably been part of the school for some time. In 1902-1903 most students were part-time, and a course in carriage building and decoration was introduced. By 1913 the number of students had risen to over 300 a year. Evening classes were largely attended by apprentices of trades allied to art, whilst during the day 'many leisured young ladies' attended classes. New premises were needed as student numbers rose, and in 1913-14 buildings on the site of St Mary's Church and schools, Charing Cross Road, were leased from London County Council for St Martin's. St Martin's shared its premises with the Technical Institute for the Distributive Trades which also needed new buildings. St Martin's at first occupied buildings to the right of the site, but by the end of the 1920s it became necessary to extend the school further, and the former Domestic Economy school was taken over. Numbers of students continued to increase, until by the 1937-38 session over 700 students were enrolled for courses which ranged from advanced fine art courses to specialised Junior technical courses for boys and girls from 13-16. A new building was built on the site and opened in 1939 and the church and associated buildings demolished.

Younger students were evacuated during the Second World War. The school became firmly established as one of the major fine art and commercial art schools, producing many well-known artists. By 1961 there were over 500 full-time students, studying for either a National Diploma or a Diploma in Art and Design. As student numbers rose, other premises were leased for the school at Archer Street, Greek Street and 145 Charing Cross Road. Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) courses were introduced in the 1975-1976 session. Lack of space continued to be a problem for St Martins, and in 1979 a building at Long Acre was leased and converted by the school and housed the Graphics Department, Film and Video Unit and some of the Painting Department. The building was closed in 1998 when a site at Red Lion Square, Holborn was acquired.

In January 1986 the school became a constituent college of the London Institute, formed by the Inner London Education Authority associating its art schools and specialist colleges of printing, fashion and distributive trades into a collegiate structure. The Central School of Art and Design, another constituent college of the London Institute, merged with St Martin's School of Art in 1989 to form Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.