NHER 618 (Building record) - Assembly House, Theatre Street

Assembly House, Theatre Street and site of College of St Mary in the Fields.

College of St Mary-in-the-Fields, Theatre Street. Originally a hospital.
Soon after 1248 became secular college. Dissolved 1544. Assembly House built on top.
Excavations 1901; alterations 1947-50.
Foundations under Noverre House (1954).
Plan by Rowland Pierce (copy in file, interpretative)
The glazed floor tiles and painted window glass from 1901 excavations are held by NCM.
For early references to the College of St Mary in the Fields see (S1)-(S4).
Information from (S5).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES)

The bells were sold to St Lawrence's. See NHER 583.

1901. Excavation.
See published report (S6) for further details.
Glazed floor tiles and painted window glass from this excavation were subsequently acquired by the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1963.127).
P. Watkins (HES), 24 January 2018.

1954. Listed Grade I.
Listing Description Excerpt:
"Former Assembly Rooms now galleries, restaurant, lecture rooms and flat. Includes the cinema west of the west wing. 1754 by Thomas Ivory with 15th-century undercrofts and later fragments. 17th-century east wing. Red brick. Flint and brick rubble. Rendered. Pantile roofs. Two storeys. Five bays with irregular projecting wings."
Information from (S7).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S7) for the current details.
P. Watkins (HES), 24 January 2017. Amended by H. Hamilton (HES), 8 November 2019.

1970s or 1980s. Building Survey.
Examined as part of Norwich Survey.
See file for material from Alan Carter archive, including architectural plans and chronology of building alterations and additions 1571-1755.
T.E. Miller (NLA) 18 January 2006. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 24 January 2017.

The Assembly Rooms undercroft is amongst those listed in thesis (S8), which considers the 13th- to 17th-century buildings of Norwich. It is described as a pointed barrel-vault beneath the east range of the building that is connected to an earlier structure of two bays with single-order, diagonal ribs, plus apex ribs.
P. Watkins (HES), 24 January 2018.

April 1995.
Building gutted by fire. See newspaper reports (S9) and (S10) in file.
See file for further details.

May-June 1995. Salvage Excavation.
Salvage excavation by NAU in aftermath of fire of 21 April.
Work concentrated on retrieval of decorated ceiling plaster and chandelier remains from Music Room, Restaurant and Foyer. Gridded collection units used to aid eventual reconstruction or replication of ceiling elements.
Archive and all material retrieved held by architects (Purcell, Miller and Tritton) for use during reconstruction work.
See reports (S11) and (S12) for further details. This work is also noted in (S13). See also copy of collection criteria used during salvage work (S14).
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2025.167).
T. Ashwin (NAU), 22 February 1996. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 March 2017 and 31 August 2025.

The ceiling of the music room was designed by Sir James Burrough of Cambridge who also designed the dining room at Sidney Sussex College; the plasterer was Wilkins, ancestor of William Wilkins. The balcony at the end, originally added in 1830 superceding that above the entrance, where musicians stand holes remain, was much rebuilt in the 1950s. Information from [1].
See photographs in oversize graphic material drawer.
E. Rose (NLA) 27 November 2002.

August 2007.
Scheduled monument consent granted concerning the redecoration of the plinth to the music room and the re-waxing of wall panels below the window and exit door. Consent also granted concerning the replacement and repositioning of exisiting doors with new bi-folio automatic doors.
See (S15)

2008.
Norwich HEART:
One of the most glorious examples of Georgian assembly rooms architecture in the country. A Georgian grade I listed building, the Assembly House was originally the site of a 13th century hospital and a secular college and church for priests, who lived a communal life in the surrounding hall and cloisters. The house as it stands today was designed by the architect Thomas Ivory. It was used as a ‘House of Assemblies' for the gentry of Norwich, and hosted a wealth of events and famous people.
See (S15) and (S16).
D. Gurney (NLA), 27 January 2009.

January 2009
Scheduled monument consent granted regarding a schedule of works to the Assembly House
See (S17)
H. White (NLA), 3 February 2009

January 2009.
Planning permission granted regarding the installation of new aluminium framed windows, and the removal and bricking- up of one window.
See (S18) for further information.
H. White (NLA), 23 March 2009.

February-July 2015. Watching Brief.
Maintained during the refurbishment of the Assembly House’s East Wing. This work saw the demolition of a 20th-century kitchen block and its replacement with new accommodation, as well as the remodelling of the interior of the East Wing.
Although the archaeological contractor monitoring the external groundworks did not closely follow the internal works (having been informed that these were being observed by Historic England), they were nevertheless able to examine and photograph some of the early features exposed. These included a fireplace of late medieval or early post-medieval date that was partially exposed in a first floor wall above the Laundry, following the removal of a wooden stud casing. This lay behind a late 19th- to 20th-century fireplace and had a plasterwork fire hood or overmantle and a moulded surround below. The ground floor wall at this point is believed to be medieval.
An early brick fireplace with a chamfered four-centred arch was also exposed on the first floor, above the kitchen at the north end of the East Wing. Brick fireplaces of this type are usually regarded as 16th to 17th century in date, although this example is surprisingly plain.
The refurbishment also uncovered earlier floorboards in several first floor rooms. These are possibly of the same age as the beams below, which are chamfered with runout and double-step stops, indicating a 16th- to 17th-century date.
The opportunity was also taken to examine the accessible elements of the undercroft, including the north-north-east to south-south-west aligned range that runs beneath the East Range and the restaurant to the south, and the two perpendicular chambers to the west that extend beneath the courtyard of the Assembly House. Only the east vault beneath the ground floor WC was not seen.
See report (S19) for further information and NHER 65585 for details of the medieval remains exposed by the external groundworks.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.291).
P. Watkins (HES), 21 May 2022.

November 2019. Watching Brief.
Maintained during resurfacing of drive and courtyard surface.
The modern asphalt was found to have been lain down across an extensive layer of modern brick rubble, which included a number of perforated pieces from a malting floor, indicating at least some of this material had been sourced from a demolished malthouse. A well-mixed make-up deposit was exposed beneath this material. A small area of worn cobbles was also uncovered in the eastern driveway, which may date to the 19th century.
No remains associated with the medieval college were exposed, although a small number of medieval brick fragments were collected that presumably derived from the buildings demolished following the Dissolution. A small number of post-medieval objects were recovered from the exposed make-up layer, including a button, dome-headed studs, shoe buckle fragment, lace tag, mount spoon and a lead pistol shot.
See report (S20) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2020.15).
P. Watkins (HES), 21 May 2022.