07 March 2011

St John's House

At the weekend St John's House had an open day. The house was built in the 14th century adding to an already existing St John's Hospital.

In the late 18th century the 1st floor of St John's House was dramatically altered when the roof was raised about 7 feet to provide an elegant Assembly Room where wealthy citizens attended balls, dinners and concerts.  As there was already enough light coming in from the existing windows it was felt unnecessary to create any new ones, so if you look closely at the 2nd floor you can see that there's no glass in the windows, they're imitation windows painted onto recesses. 

Since the end of the 18th century the building has been used as a law court, museum of stuffed birds, cinema, waiting room for the nearby bus station, restaurant and church. In 2009 the YMCA took over the lease and turned the building into a youth venue, however the upstairs rooms are available for hire for weddings and conferences.

8 comments:

  1. That is a real imagination at work. I have not seen anything this realistic in ages.

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  2. I don't know who Dr. John was, the house looks quiet simple though

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  3. Odd about the windows, having lived in a few old buildings over the years I would have thought you could never have too many windows.
    Leeds daily photo

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  4. I wouldn't have noticed about the windows. Funny thing!

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  5. Interesting architecture, quite simple, yet elegant.

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  6. Better a change of use than neglect.

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  7. I had never noticed the windows were flase until someone pointed them out to me

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  8. Beautiful picture and thanks for sharing the not so easily found information on the internet through your blog!

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