The Assembly House

Summary

Former assembly rooms, now arts centre, restaurant, and hotel. Built in 1754-1755 to designs by Thomas Ivory of Norwich, including interior fixtures and decoration by James Burrough of Cambridge, with later alterations and additions. It was constructed on the site of, and incorporates fragments from, the medieval hospital and college of St Mary-in-the-Fields, along with fabric from its conversion to domestic use in 1544 and transformation into a mansion in 1573-86.

The buried remains of the medieval college and hospital of St Mary-in-the-Fields, including the foundations of the church and cloister along with a crypt and cellars, are protected by their scheduled monument status and are therefore not included in the listing.

Reasons for Designation

Norwich Assembly House, built in 1754-1755 to designs by Thomas Ivory of Norwich, with interior fixtures and decoration by James Burrough of Cambridge, incorporating fragments of the medieval hospital and college of St Mary-in-the-Fields along with fabric from its late-Tudor remodelling as a mansion, is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as one of the finest examples of an Assembly Rooms in the country, matched only by those in Bath and York,

* for the range and quality of the public rooms which, despite some reconstruction after a fire in 1995, retain their elaborate internal design scheme and plan-form, which provides a unique understanding of the layout and function of the building type in England;

* for the incorporation of medieval fabric from the hospital and college of St-Mary-in-the-Fields, which has informed the layout of the building as seen today, along with fabric from two successive phases of remodelling in the late-Tudor period when it was converted to residential use;

* for the sensitive conservation-led restoration of the principal internal spaces after the Second World War and again following a fire in 1995.

Historic interest:

* Norwich Assembly House illustrates in social history terms the national development of a building type that originally emerged in the late-medieval period from entertainment rooms in inns and taverns to purpose-designed buildings in the Georgian and Regency periods;

* for its association with nationally important individuals which included: Sir Thomas Cornwallis, steward of the household of Prince Edward; Sir Henry Hobart, Attorney General, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; Oliver Messel, one of the foremost theatre, film and set designers of the C20; and Sir Roland Penrose, a significant figure in the British avant-garde art scene.

Group value:

* with the medieval hospital and college of St Mary-in-the-Fields (scheduled), whose buried archaeological remains lie beneath the Assembly House and its forecourt, along with a large concentration of scheduled monuments and listed buildings in the south-west part of Norwich’s historic city centre.

History

The Assembly House, whose current form is largely the product of a rebuilding of 1754-55, stands on the site of and incorporates fabric from St Mary-in-the-Fields, a religious hospital founded shortly before 1248 which then developed into a secular college by 1278. Evidence from religious appropriations and testamentary bequests confirm that the college’s main period of expansion, which included the building of the cloisters and the restoration of the church, took place between the late C14 and early C15. At the Dissolution the surrender of the college was signed of 29 January 1544 by Dean Miles Spencer and the Bishop of Norwich. Fortuitously, just three months later, on 22 April 1544, Spencer was granted the site for a nominal sum. He subsequently demolished the chapel and other ecclesiastical buildings but kept the south, east and west cloistral ranges, which he remodelled to suit his new domestic requirements.

Following Spencer’s death in 1569, the property was bequeathed to his nephew, William Yaxley, who sold it to Sir Thomas Cornwallis of Brome, Suffolk (1518/19-1604). In 1573, Cornwallis set about converting and rebuilding what was then known as ‘Chapel-in-the-Field House’ into an impressive Elizabethan mansion, forming a new hall, kitchens, gallery and porter’s lodge, which was completed in 1586.

In 1609, the house was acquired by Sir Henry Hobart (about 1554-1625), Attorney General, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and MP for Norwich. Despite his intention to make the property an estate worthy of his wealth and status, his purchase of Dagworth Manor in 1616 saw his energies being diverted into building Blickling Hall (listed Grade I) as his hew home.

By 1683, the house had passed to Sir Henry Hobart (1657-1698), the 4th Baronet, who, with the family living at Blickling Hall, granted a 31-year lease to a Mrs Elizabeth Ellsworth. Little is known of the house’s history during the first half of the C18, other than schools were held somewhere on the estate, and advertisements show that public assemblies were held during Sessions and Assizes, and from 1722 lessees held regular assemblies. By 1750, when it was known as ‘Chapel Field House', it had been subdivided into several tenements.

In December 1753, Sir John Hobart (1693-1756), 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire, agreed a 500-year lease with seven aldermen who, along with 24 local notaries, formed a business company to use the house as an entertainment centre for Norwich’s well-heeled residents. It was subsequently refashioned to accommodate a series of assembly rooms to designs by Thomas Ivory (1709-1777) of Norwich, with the interior fittings and decoration by James Burrough (1691-1764) of Cambridge, where he was an amateur architect and Master of Gonville and Caius College. The central part of the building, which is believed to have been part of Cornwallis’s late-C16 house, was pulled down and rebuilt, but the south, east and west wings, all incorporating medieval and Tudor fabric, were retained and remodelled rather than demolished due to a lack of funds. The renamed Assembly House opened in July 1755 and included two card rooms, a music room, ballroom, tearoom and bowling green.

In 1855, its freehold was acquired by new trustees who, having received no offers for the building when they offered it for sale, subdivided it into two lots to make it more attractive to potential buyers. Ivory’s 1750s entrance range along with the south and east wings were subsequently acquired by Benjamin Bond Cabbell of Cromer Hall, who primarily used them as a Freemasons’ Hall, while the west wing was purchased by Frank Noverre (1807-1878), who had taken over the dancing school his father, Francis, had established at the Assembly House in 1793. Frank used the west wing as his own house to which he added a ballroom in 1858.

In 1876, Cabell’s property was purchased by the Girls’ Public Day School Company (now the Girls’ Day School Trust) for the newly-founded Norwich High School for Girls. They acquired Noverre’s west wing and ballroom in 1901. In this year, when new windows were inserted across the ground floor of the Music Room's south elevation, it was discovered that this section was largely constructed from medieval flint rubble to which Ivory had added a brick skin in 1754-1755. Further discoveries included a medieval floor with in situ tiles at a depth of 1.5m below the existing floor level and a medieval oak beam running the whole length of the room. It was suggested by George Hawes (see Sources), the building contractor employed by the School, that the south wing may have been an original hospital building over which rooms for chantry priests were provided following its conversion to a secular college. Also found at the same time when drainage trenches were dug in the forcourt were a series of foundation walls belonging to the medieval church. Further foundations belonging to both the church and north cloister were uncovered the following year when the whole forecourt was excavated.

In the mid-1930s, with the School having vacated the premises, the Assembly House was acquired by the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Trust and the Norwich Society. Parts were immediately rented out as warehousing to pay the mortgage while the west wing was used as a hostel by the YMCA and YWCA. In 1938, the building was acquired by a consortium of local businessmen, but their plans to expand its use as a hostel had to be abandoned due to the onset of the Second World War.

It was subsequently requisitioned by the War Office and used by the Eastern Command Camouflage School under the leadership of Oliver Messel (1904-1978), one of the foremost theatre, film and set designers of the C20. Sir Roland Penrose (1900-1984), a significant figure in the artistic avant-garde in Britain, was a senior lecturer. Messel, who was also an active member of the Georgian Group, played an important role in the re-discovery and subsequent restoration of the Assembly House, as it was on his advice that the building was requistioned, and on his insistence that the architectural historian Christopher Hussey should visit the building and write about it for Country Life (see Sources).

The Assembly House’s post-war restoration as an arts centre, which saw the Noverre Ballroom being converted into a cinema, commenced in 1947 to designs by S Rowland Pierce of Norwich, with the venue reopening on 23 November 1950. Pierce also produced a conjectural plan of the medieval College of St Mary-in-the-Fields based on the medieval and Tudor fabric he had uncovered during the restoration along with information from the Augmentation Office survey of 1544 and Hawes’s account of the findings from the excavations of 1901-1902. His plan indicated that: the north side of the site was dominated by the collegiate church; the Assembly House’s east and west wings stand on the footprint of, and incorporate fragments of, the college’s cloisters along with fabric from its remodelling as a Tudor mansion; and its south wing stands on the footprint of and incorporates fragments from its great hall (now Music Room) and the dean’s parlour (now restaurant). Pierce also depicted a crypt beneath the restaurant, which he dated to around 1300, and cellars under the east wing and forecourt. Although he gave no date for the cellars, their position beneath the north and east cloisters suggests that they are probably of a contemporary late C14 to early C15 date.

On 12 April 1995, the Assembly House was badly damaged by a fire. It was restored to plans developed by Purcell Architects and reopened on 14 February 1997. In 2013-2014, the vacant east wing was refurbished and extended to provide bed and breakfast suites. Additional suites were created in the west wing around 2021.

Details

Former assembly rooms, now arts centre, restaurant, and hotel, built in 1754-1755 to designs by Thomas Ivory of Norwich, including interior fittings and decoration by James Burrough of Cambridge, with later alterations and additions. It was constructed on the site of and incorporates fragments of the medieval hospital and college of St Mary-in-the-Fields, along with fabric from its subsequent transformation into two successive late-Tudor mansions.

The buried remains of the medieval college and hospital of St Mary-in-the-Fields, including the foundations of the church along with a crypt of around 1300 date and late C14 to early C15 cellars, are protected by their scheduled monument status and are therefore not included in the listing.

MATERIALS: the principal entrance range to Theatre Street is of Flemish bond red brick. The east wing is stucco-rendered, scored to imitate ashlar, with areas of flint rubble and brick, whilst the west wing is also stucco-rendered and scored to imitate ashlar over flint rubble and brick. The south wing and Noverre Hall are of Flemish bond red brick, of which that to the Music Room encases medieval flint rubble. All roofs are of black pantiles except for the entrance block and south wing which are covered with black-glazed pantiles.

PLAN: a U-shaped composition with a two-storey entrance block (1754-1755) flanked by two-and-a-half and three-storey cross wings (both late-C16 with medieval and post-C16 fabric) and a rear south wing (1754-1755 with medieval and Tudor fabric). A former ballroom (1858), now the Noverre Hall, adjoins the west side of the west cross wing, to which a late-C19 two-storey range adjoins its west side.

EXTERIOR: the entrance block’s north elevation is of two storeys in five bays, with the centre bay projecting beneath a triangular pediment with a heavy timber dentil cornice that extends across the flanking bays. To the centre, set within a rusticated surround, is a round-headed doorway with double-panelled doors and a five-vaned fanlight, over which is a segmental pediment on scrolled consoles. It is flanked on each side by nine-over-six sashes, and to the first floor there are five six-over-six sashes, all unhorned and within exposed flush boxes. Over the cornice is a stone-coped brick parapet.

The east wing is of two-and-a-half storeys with three different ridge heights. Its west elevation to the forecourt is of seven unequal bays and linked to the entrance range by a recessed single-bay with a higher ridge line than the other six bays. Its ground and first floors are of medieval flint rubble, now painted, while the attic storey is timber framed. A lead rainwater pipe in the angle with the centre block has a hopper dated 1755. Adjoining to the left, with a lower ridge line, is a projecting two-bay range of painted brick with some flint rubble. To the left again, with a slightly higher ridge line than the adjoining two-bay range, but lower than the single-bay range, are the remaining four bays, all stucco-rendered and scored to imitate ashlar. Fenestration across this elevation primarily consists of six-over-six unhorned sashes except for the single-bay range which has a fixed-light window with vertical glazing bars to the ground floor, a two-light casement with horizontal glazing bars to the first floor, both of C20 date within brick surrounds, and a C19 two-light metal casement with horizontal glazing bars to the attic. The north end has a C19 French window to the ground floor, two late-C18 six-over-six unhorned sashes with hoods on consoles to the first floor, and a C20 tripartite sash to the attic. Adjoining its east elevation are two gabled cross wings, a wider and taller one at the north end, and a narrower and lower one set back to the south, both of late C16 date. The north cross wing has an eight-over-eight unhorned sash on the ground floor, a three-light mullion and transom on the first floor, both early C19, and a three-over-three unhorned sash to the attic. Behind, to the attic, is a three-light gabled dormer, and rising from the wall plane of the original cloistral range is a brick stack, both of late-C16 date. Its right-hand return has a square-headed moulded doorway with weathered stops and a plank door with moulded fillets, over which is a two-light casement with lead cames, both of probable late C16 date. The south cross wing has a six-over-six unhorned sash to the ground floor and an eight-over-eight unhorned sash to the first floor, both early C19, over which is a late-C16 timber bressumer. Adjoining to its left is a three-storey block in four bays, with its ground floor obscured by an early-C21 flat-roofed extension. Its upper storeys are of flint and brick of which the second floor has been rendered.

The west wing is of three-storeys with a uniform ridge height. Its east elevation to the forecourt is of five unequal bays of which the second bay from the left is a projecting two-storeyed entrance bay which was added in 1858 to give access to the former ballroom (now Noverre Hall). It consists of an open pediment over a rusticated ground floor with modern half-glazed double doors flanked by sidelights, over which is a six-over-six unhorned sash. The fourth bay has a mid-C20 six-panelled door, the upper two panels glazed, set within a moulded doorcase with a triangular pediment on consoles. The other ground-floor bays and the fourth and fifth bays to the first floor all have six-over-six unhorned sashes, while the second floor has four three-over-six unhorned sashes; the window openings in the third and fifth bays were created in 1947-1950. Its north end is divided by moulded sill bands and has alternating quoins of which those at the north-east corner are cut back to reveal a medieval chamfered limestone door jamb. Its ground floor has a mid-C20 tripartite sash flanked on each side by splayed brick reveals containing the surviving timber mullions from a 12-light Tudor window. On the first floor there is a six-over-six unhorned sash and to the second floor there is a three-over-six unhorned sash, both with corbelled sills and eared architraves. The east elevation has a large external stack with three unequal bays to its left-hand side and two to its right. Fenestration across the elevation is largely comprised of six-over-six sashes to the lower two floors and three-over-six sashes to the second floor, all unhorned. The ground floor also has a pair of French doors and a C20 timber door at the left-hand end, while the first floor has a large five-light mullion and transom at the right-hand end.

Adjoining the west side of the west wing at a right angle is the Noverre Hall, a former ballroom added in 1858. It is of a tall single storey with its north side divided into seven bays by pilasters with simple block capitals supporting a dentil cornice. The odd numbered bays are blind while the even numbered bays contain fifteen-over-fifteen horned sashes with gauged skewback brick heads of which the central window has a panelled timber apron; the windows were all inserted in the 1990s following the blocking of the original window openings in 1947-1950 when the ballroom was converted into a cinema. Its south side is obscured at ground-floor level by an early-C21 entrance block over which the walling is blind. The extension also conceals the ground floor of a late-C19 two-storey extension which adjoins its west end. Its first floor has three sashes with margin lights under gauged skewback brick heads.

The south wing, which stands back-to-back with the entrance range, is primarily of a tall single storey except for a two-storey canted range which projects to the off-centre right. This is obscured at ground-floor level by a mid-C20 flat-roofed addition whilst its first floor has a central rose window flanked on each side by three-over-six unhorned sashes with gauged skewback brick heads. Above is a stone-coped parapet with brick stack behind. To the right-hand side of the canted range, the south wing’s south elevation has four nine-over-six hopper sashes, whilst there are five identical sashes to its left-hand side, all with gauged skewback brick heads. Beneath four of the left-hand side windows are former window openings created in 1901, all now blocked except for the central opening which is a fire escape door. Its west end has a Venetian window of the Ionic order whilst its east end is blind with brickwork of two separate phases; the left-hand two-thirds being of plum-coloured brick of probable 1947-1950 date whilst that to the right-hand third is of red brick of 1754-1755 date.

INTERIOR: the architectural heart of the building is the suite comprised of the Grand Hall, Music Room and Restaurant, all enriched with rococo plasterwork.

The Grand Hall is a double-height room divided into two unequal storeys by a moulded cornice, with panelled pilasters dividing each storey into unequal bays; the lower-storey pilasters have simple block capitals whilst those to the upper storey have fluted corbels supporting the trabeations to a coffered plaster ceiling. A dentil cornice runs around the room. At the centre of the east and west sides are identical timber doorcases with semi-circular keyed heads, moulded archivolts and imposts, panelled jambs, and flanking pilaster strips; the half-glazed double doors are mid-C20 replacements. Above each door are large crossetted panels topped with a carved shell and foliage motif, which are in turn flanked by foliage pendants under cartouches. The east doorway is also flanked by secondary doorways with six-panelled doors in moulded architraves. The rest of the room is adorned with rectangular portrait panels of which those to the upper storey sit above oval panels and below floral festoons. The plaster ceiling is divided into nine unequal bays by trabeations decorated with guilloche ornament on the soffits and gilded foliate bosses to the intersections. At the centre is a large panel with a circular rose with a foliage boss with acanthus scrollwork radiating from it, all enclosed by scrollwork of carved shells and scrolled foliage. The north end of the room has a vestibule behind a screen of Corinthian columns distyle in antis, the columns and pilasters painted to resemble marble, with gilded capitals, its entablature with a dentil and modillion cornice, below a balustraded musician's gallery flanked by panelled pilasters. The vestibule is panelled with timber doorcase to the entrance lobby with a semi-circular keyed head, moulded archivolt, imposts, and panelled jambs. Its side walls have doorways with eared architraves to the Ivory Room (east) and Hobart Room (west). At the south end of the room is a deep recess of canted plan, with walls decorated in a similar manner to the main space of the hall but with doors in the side walls and windows in the angled walls, the lower ones of nine-over-six sashes with mirrored glass, and circular window in the south wall above a fireplace in an eared architrave with pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice mantle shelf. Its overmantel consists of a crossetted panel with a reverse ogee head with volutes and an acanthus leaf crown.

The inner ends of the Music Room and Restaurant, which lie to the west and east of the Great Hall, have identical musicians’ galleries with Roman Doric order lower storeys and Corinthian order upper storeys. Both are of three unequal bays, with the wider ground floor bays divided by two fluted columns in antis, with fluted pilasters to the end bays. The entablatures have triglyph and metope friezes and dentil cornices, and support balustraded parapets to the galleries above, which have plain columns on pedestals to the centre bays and plain pilasters to the end bays. The vestibules and gallery are panelled throughout with pilaster responds to the rear partition walls. The vestibules are entered centrally from the Grand Hall through timber doorcases with semi-circular keyed heads, moulded archivolts, imposts, and panelled jambs, while the galleries have six-panelled doors in moulded architraves to the return walls. The galleries have coffered ceilings with dentil cornices; the trabeations decorated with Greek key ornament.

The walls of the Music Room are lined to just below sill level with panelling consisting of large rectangular panels between a plinth and moulded cornice. The windows on the south side are recessed above window seats, while the wall spaces between are adorned with crossetted panels with reverse ogee heads with volutes and acanthus crowns. Above each panel is a festoon and above the windows are rectangular panels. The opposing north wall mirrors the south wall in its treatment, with rectangular portrait panels replacing the windows. At the centre of this wall is a fireplace with an eared architrave, pulvinated frieze decorated with an oak-leaf garland, and moulded cornice mantle shelf. At the west end is a curved musicians’ gallery which was raised in 1947-1950 to accommodate a stage underneath. It is of the Roman Doric order, in five unequal bays, with the centre three bays divided by fluted columns, while the end bays have panelled pilasters. It has a simple fluted frieze which is adorned with Greek theatre masks and lyres, and supports a balustraded balcony to the gallery. The Venetian window above the gallery is flanked by crossetted panels with reverse ogee heads with volutes and acanthus crowns, over which are foliage festoons.

The Restaurant walls are similarly lined to just below sill level with panelling consisting of large rectangular panels between a plinth and moulded cornice. The windows on the south side have deep panelled reveals above which are rectangular panels, while the wall spaces between are decorated with foliage pendants with cartouches above. The opposing north wall is identical in its treatment, with rectangular portrait panels replacing the windows. At the centre of this wall is a fireplace with an eared architrave, pulvinated frieze decorated with a Greek garland, and moulded cornice mantle shelf. An identical fireplace with an elaborate Rococo plasterwork overmantel sits at the centre of the east end wall. Its upper storey has three crossetted panels, the central one with a reverse ogee head with volutes and an acanthus crown under a foliage festoon, while the flanking panels sit beneath rectangular panels. Between the panels are foliage pendants under cartouches.

The Ivory Room, at the east side of the entrance range, has a timber doorcase with an eared architrave, panelled reveals and a door of six raised and fielded panels. Its walls are painted up to the level of a moulded dado rail and then panelled above. To the centre of the east wall is a projecting marble fireplace with an eared architrave, pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice mantle shelf. Immediately to its right-hand side is a door of six raised and fielded panels (now blocked) within an eared architrave. The south wall has a recessed doorcase with panelled reveals and a six-panelled door of which the centre panels are glazed. The two windows on the front elevation have panelled wooden shutters. Its ceiling has a deeply moulded cornice with decorative anthemion plasterwork to each corner.

The Hobart Room lies to the west side of the entrance range and has an identical architectural treatment to the Ivory Room except for it being entered from the south side through two wooden doorcases with eared architraves.

The first floor of the entrance range is comprised of three rooms; the centrally placed Sexton Room flanked to its west by the Hobart Room and to its east by the Pierce Room, all giving access to the Grand Hall balcony through C20 six-panelled doors in eared architraves. The rooms are largely identical in their architectural treatment, with wainscoted walls beneath a plinth and moulded cornice, moulded cornices, and plain painted ceilings. The Pierce and Hobart Rooms both have fireplaces with eared architraves, pulvinated friezes and moulded cornice mantle shelves, while the Sexton Room has a brick corner fireplace. All have internal C20 six-panelled doors in eared architraves.

Other areas with historic features of note include the bedroom suites in the east wing, in which the suite the north end of the ground floor retains the remains of late-C16 oak panelling, whilst a first-floor suite in one of the late-C16 cross wings has contemporary bridging and transverse beams with bird’s beak mouldings and lambs tongue stops. In the west wing, on the east side of the staircase wall, which was inserted in 1947-50 as the building's main staircase, there is an oak-framed Tudor window set within the wall adjoining the Hobart Room.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the forecourt to Theatre Street is enclosed by cast-iron railings erected in 1904 to a design by Graham Cotman of Messrs Edward Boardman and Son, and manufactured by Messrs Barnes and Pye Ltd, both of Norwich. The composition consists of a central railed section flanked on each side by vehicular gates with gate piers surmounted by mid-C20 lanterns which are in turn flanked by pedestrian gates with rusticated brick piers surmounted by large ball finials.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

229639

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wilson, B, The Buildings of England: Norfolk 1: Norwich and North East, (1997), 269-70
Hawes, GE, 'Recent excavations at the college of St Mary in the Fields, Norwich' in Norfolk Archaeology, Vol. 15 (3), (1903), 293-315
The Old Assembly Rooms, Norwich: A War Time Discoverey in Country Life, Vol. 95, Issue 2459, (3 March 1944), 372-73
Assembly House, Norwich in Architect and Building News, Vol. 198, No 4279, (22 December 1950), 666-677
Stone, N, A History: The Assembly House, Norwich, (2017)
Bird, EL, The Assembly House, Norwich in Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Vol. 58, No 2, (December 1950), 49-54

Websites
Information on the Assembly House from the Assembly House Trust website, accessed 14 January 2025 from https://www.assemblyhousetrust.org.uk/
Information on the Assembly House from the Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, accessed 03 March 2025 from https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF618

End of official list entry

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