Old Museum Rooms

The Old Museum Rooms, located at 13 Museum Street, is a large red brick building with a stucco front, designed in a classical style by local architect Christopher Fleury and opened in 1847. The building features a panelled parapet, a plain band that replaces the original cornice, and massive Tuscan orders on octagonal bases that rise through two storeys at the corners. It has a three-window range with double-hung sashes that include glazing bars. The central section, which consists of a doorway and one window range above, projects slightly forward. The side windows are adorned with moulded and shouldered architraves and balustraded panels beneath the sills. The central window is framed in a Venetian style, featuring a semi-circular domed arch with shell ornamentation and flanking paired Ionic columns with a frieze and cornice. The doorway is enhanced by fluted Doric pilasters, a frieze, and a cornice, and is flanked by 20th-century shop fronts. Originally, the front had a projecting Doric columned porch. The north side is constructed of panelled red brick and has no windows. Inside, there is a heavy balustraded staircase leading to a first-floor hall that is top-lit and features a blocked gallery. The Old Museum Rooms, along with Nos 1 to 11 (odd) and No 10, form a group with Nos 14 to 32 (even) and Nos 14 and 16 on Arcade Street.