Brecon County Intermediate School for Boys on Cradoc Road was built in 1901 and opened, along with the Girls' School, on 10 July of that year, relocating from earlier temporary premises at Dr Coke’s Wesleyan Chapel in Lion Street, which had opened in 1896 following the Welsh Intermediate and Technical Education Act of 1889. Incoprorating Flemish influences, the school was built of brick with box ground stone for copings and mouldings, and was heated throughout with hot water pipes and open fire places. The school could accommodate a hundred pupils and the main entrance was through an arched doorway at the south-east tower. The ground floor, with segmented windows facing the roadside, contained a large assembly hall, capable of being converted by folding partitions into two classrooms when required for teaching purposes, three additional classrooms, cloak room and lavatory, and a headteacher's room with separate lavatory. Granolithic flooring in the corridors and staircases. Upper floor contained chemical laboratory, lecture room, classroom, teachers' common room, and a large stor room.

The school was built by E. G. Groom of Llandovery to the designs of architects J. H Phillips, MSA, of Cardiff and F. Baldwin, MSA, of Abergavenny.

The school later became a County Grammar School. Due to increasing pupil numbers, a new school (Penlan Boys and Girls Grammar School) was opened in 1958 with modern facilities and a large sports field. The Cradoc Road School buildings were recently in use as Brecon Youth Centre before its closure and listing for sale by 2018. 

M. Powel. RCAHMW. April 2021

Sources:

'The Boys' County/Grammar School 1', Powys Digital History Project; 'Brecon County Schools - Opening Ceremony on Wednesday', The Brecon County Times, 12 July 1901, p.5; 'Brecon County Schools', The Brecon County Times, 12 July 1901, p.7; 'Old Boys seek listed status for their old school building', Brecon and Radnor Express, 28 September 2018