ABSTRACT
The 1904 Code of Regulations and the insistence upon free places in 1907 delineated the function of secondary schools for the first half of the century. London found itself confronted by almost as great a crisis in the provision of secondary-school places as had been created by the need for elementary education after 1870. The broad curriculum which Morant imposed in 1904 was thought appropriate because it involved the resuscitation of ‘literary’ and ‘humane’ studies, widely seen as important elements in the traditional grammar-school curriculum. Central halls remained mandatory in secondary schools, partly because they enabled head teachers to foster a corporate spirit. The frequently canvassed view that secondary schools should have a more elevated architectural style than elementary coincided with the need to impose homogeneity upon schools of radically different origin. Plans of a school in which the hall was separated from the classrooms were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1905.
