Work to reduce the former Catholic Club and Quaker School building at 2 Raby Terrace will begin today (Monday, January 6).
The 19th-century building—which has been derelict since 2020—will be torn down alongside its outbuildings. Footpath closures around the site will be in place for roughly 12 weeks.
Darlington Council is demolishing the site as part of plans to create new houses, flats, and shops, in the town centre, which were approved in 2021.
These plans—which would create six three-bedroom houses, six two-bedroom flats, and three retail units with flats above them—have faced delays due to the site’s historical complexities.
They were pushed back further in September 2024 after a police raid unearthed a large-scale cannabis farm at the site, which had been damaged due to electrical conduits and ventilation through ceilings and walls.
Police at the scene in September (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)
However, the work will now get underway, with Arcadia Court remaining accessible from Skinnergate throughout this time.
The building was first constructed in 1819 as a British and foreign school, funded by the Quaker Pease family. The school was housed in the building until 1886 when it moved to new premises in Beaumont Street, and the building was converted to housing.
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Its use as housing was short-lived however, and by 1914 it was converted into a cookery school, before the Darlington branch of the Royal British Legion took up residence in 1921.
By 1955, the building was owned by the British Legion Club, which closed in the late 1970s before being taken over by St Mary’s Associated Club in 2012.
The club closed again in 2020 as a result of the Covid lockdowns and never reopened.