Harpur Suite

Harpur Suite

A former Assembly Room built between 1834 and 1835 to designs by Thomas Gwyn Elger. The building subsequently served as a private subscription library and public library before becoming an entertainment venue in its current use.

The building is roughly rectangular on plan with a tetrastyle portico at the west end and an apse at the east end. The walls are constructed of white brick laid in Flemish bond, with the front (west) elevation rendered and the rear (east) elevation of red brick. The roof over the porticoed section has slate covering; the single-storey wings flanking the portico have flat roofs, also slate-covered. Any previous chimney stacks were removed in the mid- or late twentieth century.

The west elevation facing Harpur Street is a symmetrical five-bay Greek Revival composition. The central three-bay two-storey section features a giant tetrastyle portico with four fluted Doric columns on square bases, a plain pediment and Greek Doric entablature. The columns span five stone steps, and within the portico the walls are framed by a giant engaged pilaster on either side. The first-floor windows contain three-over-three pane timber sash windows without horns in flat-arched moulded surrounds. The two ground-floor windows contain six-over-six pane timber sash windows without horns, also in flat-arched moulded surrounds. The central doorway is surmounted by a plain cornice carried on console brackets; it contains a panelled overdoor and double-leaf three-panelled doors, with applied metal lettering spelling 'HARPUR SUITE' added around 1995. A metal wall plaque is inscribed '1830 / THE / HARPUR / SUITE'. Single-storey single-bay wings flank the portico on each side, each with a plain entablature and engaged pilasters framing a six-over-six pane timber sash window without horns with shallow moulded surround and shallow cornice above the lintel. The north elevation retains flat-arched clerestory-level windows under the Greek Doric entablature containing three-over-three pane timber sash windows. The south elevation of the southern wing retains a six-over-six pane sash window without horns at its west end; the remainder was obscured by the addition of the Howard Room around 1975, which links the Harpur Suite to the Corn Exchange and is excluded from this listing.

The rear (east) elevation features a double-height curved bay at its centre containing a tripartite window with margined lights in a plain surround. Above this curved bay is a round-arched louvered opening to the apex of the gable beneath a plain bargeboard. The rear elevation of the north single-storey wing has a central flat-arched door surround of white brick with a plain entablature above, containing double-leaf three-panelled doors; a window surround to the north of this doorway is blocked.

Interior

The main entrance leads to a foyer from which nineteenth-century doors provide access to the north and south wings. A central curved and half-glazed door opens to the former assembly hall, with a curved stair rising along the south side of the curved wall on a moulded handrail with plain stick balusters, providing 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. Neoclassical decoration includes a coffered ceiling with rosette and cyma reversa mouldings, and a cornice with egg and dart moulding. Giant engaged Doric pilasters stand on plinths along the walls. The east apse features a tripartite window to its centre with a shallow cornice on four moulded console brackets. The central window contains stained glass depicting the coat of arms of Bedford, executed by Thomas Willement in 1835. Two classical female statues stand in niches to the left and right of this window. A stage was erected within the apse in the late twentieth century. Either side of the apse, flat-arched shallow-moulded door surrounds provide access to storage rooms beyond. The north and south walls each have five bays of clerestory windows with flat cornices on moulded console brackets; the south wall windows 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 above 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 light, 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-twentieth-century suspended ceiling.

The north wing retains a high proportion of nineteenth-century panelled doors, window shutters and cornicing. The north corridor has a suspended ceiling and provides access to toilets refurbished in the late twentieth century. 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 twentieth century.

The railings and ramp to the front of the building were added around 1995.