Assembly is a Grade II listed building in the Lancaster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 February 1970. Assembly room. 5 related planning applications.
Assembly
- WRENN ID
- empty-belfry-sienna
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Lancaster
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre MP: Cat Smith (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 February 1970
- Type
- Assembly room
- Address
- Assembly, King Street, LA1 1JN
- OS grid reference
- SD 475 616
- Coordinates
- 54.04803, -2.80283
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Assembly Rooms, now used as an antique market and dance studio, were built in 1759 and underwent enlargements and alterations in the early and late 19th century, possibly by Richard Gillow. Constructed from coursed dressed sandstone with quoins and ashlar dressings, the building features a slate roof. Originally L-shaped with a rear wing for the staircase, it was extended behind the main block in the early 19th century and again behind the left side in the later 19th century.
The building stands two tall storeys high and has five bays that are almost symmetrical. The central entrance is framed by a semicircular Tuscan porch, which is set on three semicircular steps and supported by two columns and semicolumns without bases. The doorway has a plain surround. To the right, the fifth bay features a tall doorway with a square overlight and a raised quoined surround, leading to the staircase for the assembly room on the upper floor. The ground floor windows have matching surrounds, while the first-floor windows have raised plain surrounds; all are large 18-pane sashes, with some first-floor glazing bars possibly being original. Rainwater heads are positioned between the first and second, and the fourth and fifth bays, below the moulded wooden gutter cornice. The roof is hipped.
Inside, the ground floor has an axial beam supported by two cast-iron columns, likely from the 19th century. An open-well staircase with a closed string, turned balusters, and a ramped handrail leads to the upper floor. The assembly room on the first floor features a musicians' gallery, probably designed by Gillow, which is supported by two wooden Tuscan columns. The gallery has a projecting center supported by brackets, and its front panels are decorated with a Chinese Chippendale fretwork design. The walls of the assembly room are adorned with raised fielded panelling, and there is a dentilled cornice along the coved ceiling. Additionally, a doorway behind the staircase on the ground floor has an ex situ lintel carved with initials and the date '1714'.
Local climate
Assembly sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,370 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 97% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 28 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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