88 and 88a, Guildhall Street

This house, now offices, dates to the 17th and 18th centuries. It is located on Guildhall Street, Bury St Edmunds. The building is timber-framed and rendered, with a plain tiled roof and a wood modillion eaves soffit.

The exterior is two storeys high, with a cellar and attic level, and has six windows to the upper storey, all with 12 panes in sash windows within flush cased frames. Four similar sash windows, with no glazing bars to the lower sashes, are on the ground storey. Three segmental-headed dormers, each containing a six-pane sash window, are present. The central, recessed six-panel door is accessed by steps and has a doorcase with panelled reveals and a Gibbs surround with a rusticated architrave and pediment. A plain recessed doorway and adjoining heavily-framed casement window with an upper light are at the south end. A long, rear wing, timber-framed and rendered, with a pantiled roof, extends to the rear, featuring four 16-pane sash windows in flush case frames and three gabled dormers along its north side.

The front ranges have two distinct phases of construction; the left side appears to connect with the rear wing, while the right side is of later date. The front cellar is small, while the rear cellar is larger, constructed with stone, flint and random brick. A room to the right of the entrance features a moulded wood modillion cornice and an ornate plaster centre-piece to the ceiling, which is raised above the level of the surrounding ground storey. The entrance hall has limestone flags with black dots, and evidence suggests the stair has been repositioned, now leading off one side of the hall. The stair has turned balusters, plain handrails, and closed strings. Another flight of stairs leading to the top storey has 19th-century stick balusters and a ramped handrail. To the left of the entrance, the layout has been altered due to the stair’s relocation, but full-height bolection-moulded panelling remains in one ground storey rear room, and on the upper storey, several rooms retain the remains of bolection-moulded panelling to dado height. Exposed timbers are visible in the rooms at the west end of the wing.