Highbury House

Highbury House is a house that now serves as a residential hostel for the West Suffolk Health Authority. It dates from the early 17th century and has been altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is timber-framed and has a roughcast rendered exterior. The roof is partly covered with plain tiles, partly flat with a parapet, and partly slate. It consists of two parallel ranges, with the rear range featuring an attic storey and the remains of a cross-wing at the east end.

The house is two storeys high and has cellars. The first storey has four windows, all of which are 12-pane sashes. The ground storey has three windows, two of which are tripartite with 12-pane central lights, and one is a 12-pane sash. There is a doorcase with Doric pilasters, a triglyph frieze, and a cornice. The rear range has a steeply-pitched roof, with a modillion cornice at the east end, while the remainder has a later roughcasted front with a parapet. Two large dormers in the roof feature sash windows and pierced and fluted bargeboards.

Inside, the cellar beneath the east half of the building is mainly brick-lined and includes some vaulting. Both the front and rear ranges have exposed main timbers. At the east end, there is a plain chamfered main beam with scroll stops, and several ground storey rooms have ovolo-moulded main beams. One upper room at the rear has ovolo-moulded cross-beams, and there are several moulded plaster cornices. The main posts feature long jowls, with one shaped. The 19th-century staircase has stick balusters and a wreathed handrail. The rafters are concealed, but the roof includes some form of side purlins.