Gloucester Quaker Meeting House

Quaker Meeting House built in 1834-1835 to designs by Samuel Whitfield Daukes with a later two-storey entrance lobby added in 1879 and further single-storey additions in 1946.

MATERIALS: both the original building and the 1879 addition are of red brick laid in Flemish bond with stone dressings and slate roofs.

PLAN: rectangular plan with entrance hall projecting out on the north-east side.

EXTERIOR: the original single-storey building of 1834-1835 has a hipped roof and the outer bays of the front elevation retain their original tall rubbed brick round-arched windows in arched recesses, with glazing bar fixed light windows (probably replacements of 1879). The rear elevation also has two brick round-arched windows with stone cills.

The projecting two-storey entrance lobby of 1879 has a central door with brick cambered arch and a round-arched window above, framed by a giant order of brick pilasters rising to meet an open pediment.

Three 1946 low flat-roofed brick-built additions are on either side of the entrance lobby and against the western flank wall.

INTERIOR: the two meeting rooms are each lit by high level windows front and back (two in the main meeting room and one in the smaller room blocked by the 1879 addition). Each room has plastered walls and flat plastered ceilings with moulded cornices and a central rose/ ventilator. Covered wooden ventilators are also set into the walls. Between the two spaces, vertical sliding deal panelling occupies the full height within arched openings, the central one wider and with a depressed arch and containing shutters which slide down as well as up, the outer ones round-arched, slightly lower, and incorporating communicating doors. At the east end of the main meeting room is an unusually high stand, with panelled front and dado, the five steps up on either side flanked by moulded handrails, turned newels and stick balusters. The handrail continues along the front of the stand, supported by stubby wooden piers. The floor is timber boarded, with full length metal heating grilles set into it on either side. The high dado panelling and fixed seating continue around the north and south sides, and around two sides of the smaller meeting room, here interrupted on the west side by doors to the 1946 addition and a central arched and plastered fireplace, flush with the wall.

The 1879 entrance hall has an encaustic tile floor, with a stair to the upstairs classroom on the left, and a small committee room to the right.

The three 1946 low flat-roofed additions house the toilets, kitchen and store room.