Queen’s Royal College (QRC), located at the corner of St Clair Avenue and Maraval Road, is considered the fortress of secondary education for boys. The main block, so named because it was the first structure on the site, stands majestically, complete with an illuminated clock tower and carillon clock. Queen’s Royal College is considered the most impressive of the Magnificent Seven buildings.The cornerstone was laid on November 11, 1902 by Sir Courtney Knollys, who was the acting governor at the time. The structure was designed by Daniel M. Hahn, who was the chief draughtsman of the Department of Public Works and the former student of Queen’s Royal College, during the time the school was housed at the Princes Building.The architecture of the main block is in the German Renaissance style, evident by its solidity. Built at a cost of 15,000 pounds, the original building housed six classrooms with 30 boys each. The main hall could hold more than five hundred people at a time when the student population was less than two hundred.Despite the German origin of the design, perhaps a legacy of Mr. Hahn’s student days in Berlin, the interior design is decidedly tropical with a delightfully aristocratic touch from the days when European school architecture was austere.The grandeur of the main block made a lot of sense, and although the old traditions no longer exist today, there is no escape from the eloquence of any public building that surpasses living memory as the main block soon will.The restoration of Queen’s Royal College is virtually complete, all the original elements and colors have been carefully restored, including the hand-painted murals that originally decorated the classrooms.
