Summary
Former Assembly Rooms, built between 1834 and 1835 to the designs of Thomas Gwyn Elger, later a private subscription library and public library, now an entertainment venue.
Reasons for Designation
The Harpur Suite, former Assembly Rooms built between 1834 and 1835 to the designs of Thomas Gwyn Elger, later a private subscription library and public library and now an entertainment venue, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as an elegant public building executed in the Greek Revival style, befitting an early learned society;
* for the high degree of survival of the original plan form and classical architectural features, including its Greek Doric tetrastyle portico, window and door surrounds, sash windows, coffered ceiling, a stained-glass window by Thomas Willement, and statuary;
* as an important work by local architect Thomas Gwyn Elger, who served as Mayor of Bedford on three occasions, and who designed a number of notable buildings, including a 55-arch causeway at St Ives, Cambridgeshire (1822, Grade II*), and the Harpur Trust girls’ and infants’ school in Bedford (1840, demolished in 1974).
Historic interest:
* as a rare surviving example of the library of an early learned society, and predating the Public Libraries Act of 1850;
* as a key public building in the historic county town of Bedford.
Group value:
* for the strong contribution it makes to the historic streetscape of Harpur Square, which also includes the contemporary former Bedford Modern School (now the Harpur Centre), constructed between 1831 and 1834 to designs by Edward Blore (Grade II*);
* for the strong group value it also holds with nearby listed buildings on St Paul’s Square, including the Town Hall and Shire Hall (Grade II), and Church of St Paul (Grade I).
History
The Assembly Rooms were constructed between 1834 and 1835 to the designs of Thomas Gwyn Elger (1794-1841) an architect and builder, who served as Mayor of Bedford in 1830, 1835, and 1838. Elger purchased land in Bedford and developed it providing cheap housing in the town centre and north of Tavistock Street. In Bedford he is also credited with the design of the Harpur Trust girls’ and infants’ school, built in 1840 and one of his last buildings (demolished in 1974). Elsewhere Elger is also credited with the design of a 55-arch causeway at St Ives Cambridgeshire, dated 1822 (Grade II*).
The Bedford Directory and Almanack, published in 1866, provided a useful early account of the Assembly Rooms: ‘These handsome Rooms, which were erected by a company of shareholders in the year 1835, are generally used for concerts, balls, lectures, and other public entertainments. Being situated in the heart of the town, they are admirably adapted for these purposes. They are sometimes called ‘The Bedford Rooms’. Various societies hold their meetings here; the chief of these is The Bedford Literary and Scientific Institution and General Library… The library contains about 10,000 volumes embracing nearly all the most valuable modern works in science, history, fiction, and general literature. There is also a handsome reading-room, which is well supplied with the leading newspapers, magazines, and reviews; and the fine collection of folios and quartos, which originally belonged to St John’s Church, and were afterwards kept in St Paul’s Church, are deposited here… The Museum, likewise deposited in these rooms was established ‘for the deposit of geological specimens and such other curiosities as may be presented to the institution.’ … The Bedfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society occupy the first room on the right. This society was established in 1847 for the promotion of a pure and enlightened taste in Ecclesiastical Architecture – for the correct restoration of our churches – for the preservation of the monuments and remains of former ages – and for the diffusion of information on the subjects of architecture and archaeology generally… The Savings Bank connected with these rooms… was established on the 4th May 1816…’
The east wall of the Assembly Rooms features a stained-glass window by Thomas Willement (1786-1871), a leading Victorian designer of stained glass. Willement’s self-published ‘Concise Account of the Principle Works in Stained Glass that have been executed by Thomas Willement’ (1840) lists among his works a ‘large armorial window’ executed in 1835 at the ‘Hall of the Philosophic Institution’ and presented by Dr Witt.
By the early 1930s Bedford was only one of three towns with a population of over 20,000 that did not have a public library. The private subscription library of the Bedford Literary and Scientific Institute was purchased by the Town Council in 1936, and the building reopened as a public library in 1937 with a stock of 22,000 books, a lending library, reference library, John Bunyan Library, children’s library, reading room and lecture hall. The public library building was listed at Grade II* in 1952. In 1969 St. Paul’s Methodist Church and Sunday School next to the library were demolished and replaced by a new and purpose-built Bedford Central Library, which opened in 1972. The former public library became known as the Harpur Suite, with an extension added around 1975 linking it to the Corn Exchange on St Paul’s Square, together functioning as an entertainment venue for the town.
Details
Former Assembly Rooms, built between 1834 and 1835 to the designs of Thomas Gwyn Elger, later a private subscription library and public library, now an entertainment venue.
MATERIALS: the roof has a slate covering and the walls are constructed of white brick laid in Flemish bond, rendered to the front (west) elevation.
PLAN: the building is roughly rectangular on plan, with a tetrastyle portico to the west end and an apse to the east end.
EXTERIOR: the Harpur Suite faces west to Harpur Street and is a symmetrical five-bay building in the Greek Revival style, comprising a three-bay two-storey central section with a giant tetrastyle portico, flanked by a single-storey single-bay wing on each side. The roof of the porticoed section is pitched with a slate covering, and any previous chimney stacks were removed in the mid- or late C20. The single-storey wings each have a flat roof. The walls are generally constructed of white brick laid in Flemish bond, and the front (west) elevation is rendered; the rear (east) elevation is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond. The front elevation has a tetrastyle portico with a plain pediment, a Greek Doric entablature which extends along the north and south sides of the building, and four fluted columns on square bases which span five stone steps. Within the portico the walls are framed by a giant engaged pilaster on either side. The first-floor windows have flat-arched moulded surrounds and contain three-over-three pane timber sash windows without horns. The two ground-floor windows have flat-arched moulded surrounds and contain six-over-six pane timber sash windows without horns. The central doorway has a plain cornice carried on console brackets, bearing the name of the venue ‘HARPUR SUITE’ in applied metal lettering (added around 1995). A moulded door surround contains a panelled overdoor and double-leaf three-panelled doors. To the right of the doorway a metal wall plaque is inscribed ‘1830 / THE / HARPUR / SUITE’. The north elevation retains flat-arched window openings at clerestory level under the Greek Doric entablature, containing three-over-three pane timber sash windows. The single-storey single-bay wings to each side of the portico have a plain entablature with engaged pilasters either side of a window. The window surround is shallow moulded with a shallow cornice above the lintel, and contains a six-over-six pane timber sash window without horns. The south elevation of the soutern single-storey wing retains a six-over-six pane sash window without horns at its west end. The remainder of the south elevation was obscured by the addition of the Howard Room around 1975 (this building links the Harpur Suite to the Corn Exchange, and is excluded from the listing). The rear elevation of the hall has a double-height curved bay to its centre, containing a tripartite window with margined lights in a plain surround. Over the curved bay there is a round-arched louvered opening to the apex of the gable under a plain bargeboard. The rear elevation of the north single-storey wing has a central flat-arched door surround constructed of white brick with a plain entablature over, and contains double-leaf three-panelled doors. Either side of the doorway is a window surround – the north one of which is blocked.
INTERIOR: the main entrance provides access to a foyer, from which C19 doors provide access to the north and south wings to either side. A central curved and half-glazed door provides access to the former assembly hall, and a curved stair with a moulded handrail on plain stick balusters rises along the south side of the curved wall to provide access to a gallery over the foyer and west end of the hall. The former assembly hall is two storeys in height and rectangular on plan, with an apse at each of its east and west ends. The Neoclassical decoration includes a coffered ceiling with rosette and cyma reversa mouldings, a cornice with egg and dart moulding, and giant engaged Doric pilasters on plinths. The east apse features a tripartite window to its centre with a shallow cornice on four moulded console brackets. The central window contains a stained-glass coat of arms of Bedford by Thomas Willement, executed in 1835. Two classical female statues stand in niches to the left and right of the window; a stage was erected within the apse in the late C20. Either side of the apse a flat-arched shallow-moulded door surround provides access to storage rooms beyond. The north and south walls have five bays of clerestory windows with flat cornices on moulded console brackets; the windows on the south wall appear to have been blocked by the addition of the Howard Room around 1975. The north and south walls each have a moulded door surround in the second bay from the east, with a flat cornice on moulded console brackets over double-leaf panelled doors with panelled reveals. The south wall has an additional doorway in the fourth bay from the east, with a plain moulded surround containing double-leaf three-panelled doors with panelled reveals. The gallery at the west end overlooking the hall has a tripartite window with a pediment over the central window, flat cornices on moulded console brackets, and moulded surrounds. The gallery is supported over the western apse and doorway by six substantial consoled brackets. The first-floor gallery retains a four-panel door from the stair, wall panelling and a dado rail; any potential ceiling ornamentation has been concealed by a late-C20 suspended ceiling. The north wing retains a high proportion of C19 panelled doors, window shutters and cornicing. The north corridor has a suspended ceiling and provides access to toilets refurbished in the late C20. The south wing retains two shuttered window surrounds in the front room but has otherwise been refurbished as a bar and kitchens in the late C20.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the railings and ramp to the front of the building were added around 1995.
