St Michaels Close Flats 1-11 (Consecutive)

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564NW NORTHGATE STREET 639-1/3/489 (West side) 07/08/52 No.18 St Michael's Close, Flats 1-11 (consec)

GV II*

A building now containing 11 flats; premises of the King Edward VI Grammar School from 1664 to 1883 and subsequently until 1939 a girls' boarding school, conducted by Anglican nuns. C17 with C18 and C19 alterations and additions. Timber-framed and rendered in panels with a raised stucco band between the storeys. A hipped plaintiled roof and wide moulded eaves soffit. L-shaped plan with a wing extending west at the south end. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, cellars and attics. The front is divided into 2 distinct halves: on the north side a range of 7 2-light casement windows with square leaded panes in cast-iron frames to the upper storey: some are original with a single small opening casement and one retains arched cusped heads to the lights; the remainder are replacements in a cross form. 6 cross windows on the ground storey, with ornate window latches in C17 style, were inserted c1945 when the building was converted to flats. They replace the original windows, set at a higher level. A central 6-panel door with the 4 top panels glazed, has a wood doorcase with a flat cornice hood on shaped and moulded consoles. Above the door is a rectangular plaque with an abbreviated Latin inscription explaining the transfer of the Grammar School to this building in 1664. Over the plaque an empty semicircular niche with a moulded architrave, keystone and impost blocks, which formerly held a bust of King Edward VI. The south end, added in the C18, has a 4-window range of 12-pane sashes in flush cased frames. A pair of half-glazed Edwardian doors are set within a heavy Ionic porch with columns in antis. Above the porch is a C19 cast-iron balcony. The south face of the rear wing has sash windows to the upper storey and 2 heavy late C19 canted brick bays to the ground storey with flat roofs and parapets. 7 hipped dormers are spaced across the east front and 4 across the south front, all have 2-light cast-iron casements with square leaded panes. Partly overlapping at the back of the main building is a recessed 2-storey C19 block, rendered, with slate roof and small-paned sash windows. INTERIOR: the original C17 north range contained the large

schoolroom of the Grammar School, in 4 bays, with a high ceiling at the level of the raised band along the front. 5 open trusses have ovolo-moulded main beams and heavy supporting arched braces resting on moulded stone corbels. This ceiling is now hidden above lower C20 ceilings and the schoolroom area is divided by C20 partitions. At the south end of the building the entrance hall, paved with limestone flags, has a central late Victorian/Edwardian stair in Cuban mahogany in an ornate C18 style. This replaced the earlier stair during repairs in the 1960s and came from the Jockey Club in London. (White W: Directory of Suffolk: Sheffield: 1874-: 574).

Listing NGR: TL8549264657