NHER 12915 (Building record) - 27 King Street (formerly Museum of Social History)

27 King Street.

December 1951. Listed, Grade II.

September 1976. Casual Observation.
Timber beams found in cavity wall behind main staircase; cavity about 2.1m (7 feet) long and 1.1m (3 feet 9 inches) maximum width, reaching to second floor from ground level. Some timbers possibly reused as vertical supports squared and had holes for mortice joints. Other timbers may have formed part of an earlier roof.
Compiled by R. Trett (KLM), 15 September 1976. Information from record card (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2023.

November 1977. Field Observation.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU).
Mid-Georgian ashlar front, five bays, three storeys and dormers. Pedimented doorway on Corinthian pilasters. On first floor, end windows have rounded pediments, central window over door has a triangular one; above this the second floor window has scrolls and apron. Rear of house brick, good Georgian façade to north; stepped gable.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 2 November 1977. Information from record card (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2023.

E. James (KLM) says she has documentary evidence that this house was designed by local architect Henry Bell in the late 17th century. The façade could be of this date; it is a style used both in this period and copied extensively in Georgian times, which would normally be the acceptable date. Good staircase and columned rooms inside.
Further research by E. James has shown that the façade block cannot have been designed by Bell, but may have been built by his son. It has been added to an older core. The rear façade of the house facing north is however certainly 17th century. Many 19th century alterations; including a ground floor wall brought forward to infill an alley, but not the upper wall above, hence the cavity described above. Full details to be published in revised edition of museum guide.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 22 July 1988. Information from record card (S1).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2023.

A revised version of Mrs James' conclusions, dating the main house to the late 17th century and the façade block to the 18th, with a different interpretation of the reason for the cavity, is given in (S2).
Further detailed discussion of building in (S3) and (S4) in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 5 February 2004.

Architect's 1994 plans (S5), old photograph (S6) and press cutting (S7) in file.

Listing Description excerpt:
"House, now museum. Owned in 1580 by the merchant John Dynnesdale when it was timber-framed. Purchased in late 1660s by the Rotterdam merchant Hubert Vinckesteyn who rebuilt the rear range probably c.1695 in brick. Street front remodelled and given its coursed limestone skin probably after 1715 when the house was in the posession of Hubert van Vlierden. Rear staircase hall added early 19th century and other alterations made. In 1814 the existing separate house over the carriage entrance was demolished and the present structure constructed, integral with No.27. By 1750 the house was used as a bank, with the bank hall in the space occupied by the present carriage entrance. Façade of three storeys in five bays. Rusticated quoins. Central fielded and panelled door with diamond-glazed fanlight. Door surround of engaged Corinthian columns supporting a segmental pediment over a plain architrave. Sash windows with glazing bars are mid-18th-century replacements...Modillion eaves cornice under low parapet which conceals the roof. One stone stack to right and left. Carriageway to right is fitted with 20th-century double timber doors and a pedestrian doorway. The first floor has a Venetian window fitted with sashes with glazing bars with a series of roundels below the embracing arch. This window is repeated to rear. Rear (west) wing to main block in dark red brick with light red quoins, to corners and window reveals, and window heads, probably c.1695...Main wall to front with moulded red brick cornice, which runs into rear wing.
INTERIOR. Façade door leads to passage to rear staircase hall via a panelled door with a four-vaned fanlight. 8 fluted Corinthian columns are linked by architraves. In the north-west segment is an oval skylight. Octagon and dot floor. Staircase with stick balusters and a ramped and wreathed handrail rises to first floor. Ground-floor south room has large-frame panelling and an ovolo modillion cornice. The room immediately above has two tuscan columns supporting a coffered cornice. The room to the north of this also with large-frame panelling, a feature repeated in the first-floor rooms to the west wing. The rooms below in this wing have 17th-century small-frame panelling, and one connecting door is surmounted by a pediment."
Information from (S8).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S8) for the current listing details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2023.

For details of The White Barn (to rear) previously recorded under this number, see NHER 63501.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 9 July 2019.