Lifeboat House

The Lifeboat House, built in 1869 and attributed to designer Charles Cooke, is located on Beach Road in Wells-next-the-Sea. It is constructed from Big Carr stone with Holkham white brick dressings and features a roof made of black glazed pantiles, which has been repaired in places. This single-storey building has a rectangular plan and resembles a shed, with gable ends that have been given architectural treatment in the Gothic Revival style. Each gable includes pointed diaphragm arches leading into a three-bay loggia, designed for oar storage.

On the south elevation, there is a broad flat-arched opening with a brick relieving arch, although the original plank doors have been replaced by a late 20th-century front that lacks distinction. A plate glass window on the north elevation does not extend into the original fabric. Each gable parapet features a single step at the midpoint and a pitched ashlar finial at the top. There is a pointed-arch window in the gable head with glazing bars of the original design. The building also includes iron purlin ties, timber dentils at the eaves of the returns, and bracketed, chamfered posts supporting the roof, with decorative ends on the brackets. Each return wall has three windows similar to the one in the gable head.

The original interior is preserved in the northern half, which now serves as a maritime museum, showcasing timber trusses with purlins and a boarded sloping ceiling. The southern half was converted in 1897 into a reading room with a fireplace, and the ground floor was opened as tea rooms to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. This conversion retains an iron fireplace upstairs and an axial brick ridge stack near the center of the roof. The north elevation features a centrally located flat-arched window, flanked by pointed diaphragm arches, similar to those on the south elevation, and a pointed-arch window in the gable end.