Beaufort House

Beaufort House is a house with an adjoining assembly room, built between 1735 and 1736, with later alterations. It was designed by John Pasco. The property is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, featuring stone details, a slate roof with gabled dormers, and brick ridge stacks.

The original house was a double-depth block, while the assembly room was the same depth overall. The assembly room was originally a single large room, now divided into offices with an upper floor inserted.

The front of the former house consists of five bays, with an offset plinth, a raised stone band at first-floor level, and a parapet with stone coping. The ground floor entrance doorway is in the right-hand bay, with a six-panel door in a plain surround. Sashes with 3x4 panes are in the bays to the left and on the first floor, set within openings with rubbed brick flat arches, raised keystones, and projecting stone sills. A gabled dormer with sashes and 3x3 panes is above the third and fifth bays.

Inside the former house, a staircase from the early 18th century ascends to the first floor, featuring a closed string, square newels, a moulded handrail, and column-on-vase balusters. A room to the left of the entrance hall has restored 18th-century fielded dado panels, a chair rail, fielded panels above the rail, and a moulded cornice. A room to the rear contains an 18th-century chimney-piece with a projecting key block in the lintel. On the first floor, a panelled room has an early 19th-century chimney-piece with a reeded surround and paterae stops. A further early 19th-century staircase leads to the attic, with column newels, stick balusters, and a ramped handrail.

The exterior of the former assembly room is a single-story structure of four bays, with a large sash window with original mid-18th century thick glazing bars (6x4 panes) in each bay. These are set within openings with rubbed brick flat arches, projecting keystones, a continuous projecting stone band above the window arches and a tall brick parapet with a slightly projecting plain brick panel to each bay. Four gabled roof dormers have sashes with 3x3 panes. The interior of the assembly room has fielded panel dado, dado rail and fielded panel shutters in the window embrasures. A semicircular niche with a shell head in plaster is located on the west wall above the dado and a fireplace is partially obscured on the north wall.

The house was built by John Pasco, a master builder of Moulsey, Surrey, in partnership with Barnabas Gunn, cathedral organist, on ground leased from the Bishop of Gloucester, and on the site of the bishop’s former stables. The assembly room was originally used for concerts and as a coffee room, intended to serve the community around the Cathedral Close.