Hemel Hempstead Quaker Meeting House

Quaker Meeting House, built in 1718 and extended in 1808, with further twentieth-century extensions and alterations designed by Norman Hyde and Maurice Phillips.

The building is constructed in red and blue brick laid to Flemish bond and stretcher bond, with tile roof coverings. The plan is irregular, centred on the original rectangular meeting house range oriented north-south, which comprises the full-height main meeting room of 1718 and a two-storey extension of 1808. A two-storey range was added in 1958 extending from the north-east wall, followed by a further two-storey range in 1974 extending from the south wall of the 1958 extension and running parallel to the original meeting house. An east-west ground-floor passageway between the 1958 and 1974 extensions provides covered access from The Alleys and leads into a small north-south oriented courtyard between the 1974 extension and the meeting house range.

The meeting house sits at the eastern end of a plot defined by St Mary's Road (formerly Bell Road) to the north and The Alleys to the east. The western part of the plot contains an attached burial ground. The main entrance is via a double-leaf door in the north wall of the covered passageway. The building ranges have hipped tiled roofs with deep eaves.

The main west elevation, facing the burial ground, is constructed in red and blue brick laid to Flemish bond. This front comprises four bays with, from left to right, two six-over-six sash windows to the ground floor with two eight-over-eight sash windows above, followed by two large round-arched nine-over-six sash windows. The main meeting room is additionally lit by two similar round-arched windows to its east wall. A built-up former main entranceway lies between the second and third bays. Brickwork over the round-arched windows shows they replaced smaller square-headed windows. A 1949 photograph indicates that the upper window in the second bay is a replacement of a formerly blocked opening.

The north elevation presents an irregular composition comprising three small windows lighting ground-floor spaces in the twentieth-century extensions, an eight-over-eight sash window to the upper storey of the 1958 extension with a narrow six-over-six sash window to its western return wall, and an eight-over-eight sash window left of the chimney stack in the north wall of the 1808 extension.

The east elevation, facing The Alleys and built in brick laid to stretcher bond, is similarly irregular. From right to left it comprises the east return wall to the 1958 extension and the projecting bay containing the ground-floor kitchen, the arched opening to the covered passageway, and the projecting three-bay extension of 1974. The upper storey of the 1958 extension is lit by a six-over-six window, whilst below, a ground-floor flat-roofed extension has small casement windows. The kitchen bay is lit by a six-over-six sash window to the ground floor with an eight-over-eight sash window above. A six-over-six sash window lights the upper floor above the covered passageway. The northern return wall to the 1974 extension includes a ground-floor doorway with a six-over-six sash window above. The extension's ground-floor classroom is lit from the east by three six-over-nine sash windows, with private accommodation above lit by three six-over-six windows. The west elevation of the 1974 extension, overlooking the small courtyard, is lit by further sash windows arranged in three bays.

The main meeting room comprises a full-height space with parquet flooring and plain plastered walls. Carpenters' marks survive on the roof timbers to the main meeting room. A beam extending the full width of the north wall may relate to the former gallery. Vertical and horizontal applied timber battens, the lower acting as a dado, extend to the base of the large round-headed window openings and continue around the walls, interrupted only by doorways to the north-west and north-east corners. The north-west doorway provides access to the library, which occupies the ground-floor room of the former caretaker's dwelling and includes a fireplace to the north wall. The north-east door provides access to the entrance lobby and other ground-floor rooms including kitchen, cloakrooms, and classrooms in the twentieth-century extensions.