Suffolk Record Office And Theatre

The Suffolk Record Office and Theatre, originally a board school, is located on Bramford Road in Ipswich. Built in 1882 by architect Brightwen Binyon, with an extension added in 1888 by E Fernley Bissopp, the building features red brick construction with terracotta details and machine-tiled roofs. It is a single-storey structure with a five-window range on the Bramford Road side, which includes three 3-light casements and a 2-light casement at each end. The gabled roof has a central leaded fleche, and the high gable ends on the east and west sides are fitted with 4-light transomed windows featuring 4/1 sashes. Decorative elements include punched arcaded bands on the sides and below, along with a terracotta band in the gable that bears the inscriptions "Ipswich School Board" on the left and "Bramford Road School" on the right. The gable heads have punched roundels and further chequered decoration. The Gatacre Road return features a central arched doorway flanked by two groups of sashes on either side. The 1888 extension on Gatacre Road is also a single storey, with stepped buttresses and three stepped gables that are designed to resemble through-eaves dormers, along with two additional stepped gable-dormers to the south in a secondary block. Inside, the main block on Bramford Road has a roof supported by false hammerbeam trusses, while the hall in the Gatacre Road extension features a roof of arched timber trusses with pierced spandrels.