NHER 63544 (Monument record) - Site of St Nicholas' Drill Hall

According to (S1) this large two-storey hall on the south side of St Nicholas' Street was built some time between 1904 and 1927. It was described in 1933 as St Nicholas' Drill Hall (S2) and appears to be the first non-domestic building built on the south side of St Nicholas' Street since the medieval period. The building was set back from the road and was at least 30m long, with a probable yellow brick gable, corrugated pitched metal roof, three roof lights which straddled the ridge, and what appears to have been a series of five large windows along its western elevation. It also had a chimney at its south-eastern corner. It tapered towards the south (rear) to fit into the plot and had an outbuilding or corridor to the west, filling the angle. Historic photographs show that the brick gable of the northern (street) elevation contained a small, narrow, louvred window or vent with red brick mouldings above the probable entrance to the main hall which had a moulded red brick architrave.
A high wall in front of the hall, flush with the street frontage may have been reused as a garden wall related to No. 26 St Nicholas' Street. In the centre it had a large double doorway under a shallow arch with metal gates and a recessed porch. Pitched glass skylights were located either side of the inner entrance to the hall. According to (S1) the lack of documentary evidence and the unconventional layout suggest that this was not a purpose-built drill hall. Documentary sources cited in (S1) indicate that the hall was still the property of the church in 1947. It is likely that the building was constructed before the First World War and a possible context for its construction or conversion is the reorganisation of the Army Reserve from 1907 onwards.
It is unclear when this building was demolished but it is still visible on an aerial photograph dating from 1963 (S1).
See (S1) for further information.
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 26 July 2019.