Description

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SE ANGEL HILL
639-1/8/185 (West side)
07/08/52 Athenaeum and attached railings

GV I

Assembly Rooms. C17 with later alterations and additions.
Originally a large 3-storey house, converted into an Assembly
House in 1714 by John Eastland, a dancing master. Remodelled
in 1789, when it was reduced to 2 storeys. Major alterations
in 1803-5 included the present north front, facing Angel Hill,
and the ballroom, which rises the full height of the building,
by Francis Sandys. The Athenaeum was established in the
building in 1853. The front and the west side are rendered.
EXTERIOR: on the north a wide mutule cornice and a parapet
stepped up towards the centre in 2 stages, the lower with 3
panels and the upper with ATHENAEUM in raised letters. Behind
the parapet is a copper-covered dome: this contains an
observatory which is still fully fitted, including telescope
though no longer in use. 7 window range arranged 3:1:3, all
small-paned sashes in plain shallow reveals.
The central window is 3-light with diminished side-lights and
a segmental-arched head. A plain Roman Doric tetrastyle porch
with iron railings above the cornice has 'SUBSCRIPTION ROOMS'
in large gilded lettering across the fascia. Attached low
wrought-iron railings mark the front boundary. Documentary
evidence suggests that the east front was faced in white brick
in 1821. It has a wood mutule eaves cornice with a low central
pediment. 6 window range, very deep small-paned sashes in
shallow segmental-headed recesses. On the ground storey a
matching row of blank recesses. A stone band between the
storeys. The west front has a plain eaves overhang. 3 window
range: small-paned sashes in flush cased frames. The wide
central Roman Doric doorway has engaged columns and a
triangular pediment; door with 2 leaves, 6 sunk panels with
heavy moulded surrounds.
INTERIOR: cellar, below the western half of the front, is
lined with coursed limestone blocks reminiscent of the cellar
below No.11 Abbeygate Street (qv). The front range, now a
vestibule, is in 5 bays, with boxed-in main beams, those for
the 2 outer bays each supported by a distyle Ionic colonnade
in antis. Panelled internal window shutters. Floor paved in a
chequer pattern of black and white marble slabs. The ballroom
is entered through double doors below a small semicircular
balcony and double stair with stick balusters, reeded open
strings and wreathed ramped handrails.

The segmental tunnel-vaulted ceiling of the ballroom has
delicate stucco decoration in Adam style, cornice with
festoons, and stucco panels to the walls above panelled
dadoes. Ornate stucco decoration to the architraves of the
doors. In the middle of the west side of the room is a
segmental recess with a tetrastyle colonnade, flanked by 2
wide fireplaces with marble surrounds and decorated cast-iron
grates.
(BOE: Pevsner N: Radcliffe E: Suffolk: London: 1974-: 148).

Listing NGR: TL8553064136

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Athenaeum at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17526979

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)