Ipswich Museum
The town's municipal Museum, which started life on the 'kink' in Museum
Street (and whose original building remains sadly empty) in 1854 - one of
the first such museums in the country - clearly wanted to promote the twin
Victorian achievements of art and science. The terra cotta frontage of the
'new' Ipswich Museum built by J.B. and F. Bennett of Ipswich displays a
feast of swags, floral and fossil mouldings, false pillars and framed sections
packed with motifs of the scientist and artist. Portraits of Isaac Newton
and William Hogarth peer oddly from dish-shaped roundels on the gables.
(Close-up photography of all these features would, we feel, help in the
appreciation of this decoration.) The weathering has played down some details
in the modelling and emphasised others in bright orange-red, particularly
the date at the top of the facade: '1880'. Perhaps they thought it unnecessary
to actually name the building 'in stone' as every local would know that
it was a temple of learning and artistic endeavour.
-
The right-hand wing, which stands well back from the High Street, bears
this grand scrolled cartouche in the centre:
'SCIENCE & ART SCHOOLS' in an idiosyncratic florid script. Again, the
weathering adds colour and interest. These three studio rooms were built
in 1890 as an addition to the museum for the exploration of art and acience
utilising the resources next door. These will return to a similar use soon.
-
Reading the words 'Art' and 'Schools' brings up another long neglected building
which adjoins this one. The old School of Art and Design next door was opened
in 1934 and provided space and well-lit studios for artists for many years.
(The unfinished appearance of the outer walls is due to the fact that the
planned doubling in size of the art school was prevented by the onset of
the Second World War.) It became the Suffolk Institute of Technology in
2004.
Reading
The story of Ipswich Museum is well told, with many illustrations in the
book: 'A Rhino in the High Street' by R.A.D. Markham (Ipswich Borough Council,
1990).
Home
Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon, 2003.