Medical dates:

Medical character:

Stormont House began as an Industrial School for Blind Boys ( later, for Little Boys) from 1909.  The School closed in 1915 and the children were moved to another Home in King's Avenue, Clapham Park.

Later that year the premises were taken over for war purposes, and became Stormont House Red Cross Hospital.

The Hospital closed in 1919 and the site was returned to the LCC.

Situated on the edge of the board open space of Hackney Downs, this was an ideal location for one of the second wave of open air schools set up by the LCC after WW1.

Stormont House Open Air School was situated in the garden behind the main building.  It was relatively small, with only three pavilion classrooms, and specialised in children developing tuberculosis.

In June 1929 20 girls had a week's holiday in Bognor, while 30 boys went to Whitstable.

By September 1931 the School had 90 places.  An annual picnic for the children was held in Epping Forest.

The School continued in operation until the outbreak of WW2, when the pupils were evacuated to Norfolk - the boys to Fincham and the girls to Shouldham.

Present status (September 2010)

Although archive records extend to 1945, it appears the site was heavily bombed, so the School did not reopen after the war.

In the 1960s a new Stormont House School was built on the site, but not of open air type.

Update:  May 2013

The site continues in educational use as a mixed day school for 100 pupils with complex education needs.

Stormont House School has now decamped to temporary premises about a mile away in Mount Pleasant Lane, Upper Clapton, while a new school is built on the Downs Park Road site.