Tower House

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SE CROWN STREET 639-1/8/296 (East side) 12/07/72 Nos.1 AND 2 Tower House

GV II

Former Penny Bank, now offices. Dated 1846 on the north front. Possibly by LN Cottingham (1787-1847). In red brick with purple brick diapering and stone dressings; roofs with shaped tiles and elaborately patterned moulded brick shafted chimneys. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics. 4 window range on the West front and 5 window range on the North front facing the Norman Tower. The windows are stone dressed, 2- 3- and 4-light, double banked, traceried. There is a 7-light window on the ground storey of the North front and a central chimney-stack, 2 gables, and a doorway with a pitched canopy and elaborately carved stone arch carried on ogee brackets and short pillars. The North end of the East front has a gable with heavy moulded brick coping, a stone oriel window on the 1st storey and 2 narrow traceried windows below. The East front has a low parapet with a moulded tile coping. A 'Tudor' arched door with carved spandrels is set in a rectangular, stone dressed opening. A stone band runs between storeys and there is a moulded stone capped plinth. The East front adjoins Tower Cottages which is in the same style and is described under Abbey Precincts. INTERIOR: extensive cellars, part brick-lined, part flint; heavy re-used main beams to the ceilings. Some surviving original features inside, including the ground storey ceilings which have plaster cornices with Tudor flower ornament. Newel stair with a round newel post moulded on the top storey. (BOE: Pevsner N: Radcliffe E: Suffolk: London: 1974-: 150).

Listing NGR: TL8557164063