High Wycombe Quaker Meeting House

High Wycombe Quaker Meeting House

This is a Quaker meeting house, probably dating from the early 19th century. It was adapted in 1930 to designs by Sam North, and extended in 1982 to a design by Roy Roe Associates. The building is constructed in red and black brick with slate roof coverings.

The meeting house comprises an east-to-west oriented rectangular range as its principal element. To the rear is an irregularly composed extension consisting of a north-to-south oriented two-storey domestic range, an adjacent single-storey toilet block, and a single-storey kitchen and classroom range (added in 1982) running east to west.

The building stands on the north side of London Road, overlooking a small front garden, situated among other Grade II-listed properties that are or were originally domestic dwellings.

The two-storey main meeting house range features a gable roof with timber eaves and slate coverings. Each gable end carries a brick chimney stack with yellow clay pots. The front (south) elevation is built in red brick laid to Flemish bond with fine lime putty joints and corner pilasters. The three bays of this elevation include a centrally-placed front door with a trellis porch, flanked by two three-over-three sash windows under flat arches of gauged brick. The upper storey has three similar sash windows. All windows are set in rendered reveals with painted sills. A small tablet above the door reads "FRIENDS / HOUSE".

The west elevation is blind, while the east elevation is in red and black brick laid to Flemish bond and includes an eight-over-eight sash window lighting the upper storey on the right-hand side. The red brick rear elevation is largely obscured by the rear domestic range but includes an eight-over-eight sash window in the upper storey to the east side and windows in each storey to the west side.

The rear domestic range is two storeys high with an irregularly composed east elevation. This comprises, from left to right, a curved structure of narrow full-height windows with a conical roof covered in lead sheet positioned at the junction with the main meeting house range, followed by two small ground-floor windows and a doorway under a small gable-roofed porch. One small window lights the upper storey to the left-hand side, with additional windows in the north gable and west wall of the upper storey. The domestic range is built in brick laid to Flemish bond.

The single-storey kitchen and classroom range of 1982 is built in brick laid to stretcher bond with windows in the north elevation.

The rear extensions have slate roof coverings to their gable roofs and simply ornamented bargeboards.

Internally, the ground floor of the main meeting house range contains the main meeting room. The former hallway, front rooms, and rear room have been opened up to create a single space for meeting for worship. A folding timber partition can be drawn between the north and south walls to divide this space into two separate areas. The east wall includes a fireplace with an eared timber surround and cupboards.

The upper storey of the main meeting house range is occupied as a warden's flat. Access to the single-storey toilet block and to the kitchen and classroom range is provided through the ground floor of the domestic range.