13 High Cross, Truro.
The Former Assembly Rooms.
The money was raised for the erection by the sale of 28 shares costing £55
each. Lord Falmouth bought three. The Assembly Rooms opened in 1789, and among
the people attending the ceremony was the actress Sarah Siddons.
It appears to have been planned and built to be dual-purpose. Surviving photos
taken in 1923 (now in the local Museum ???) show that beneath the dance floor was a
theatre Pit (what we now call "stalls') complete with raked floor and a
row of curved 9 inch wide benches. When Box Fronts were slotted between the
Assembly Room columns, it transformed instantly into a theatre - complete with
front and side galleries.
The design by Christopher Ebdon (1744 - 1824) ? according to Dan Cruikshank.
Ebdon seems to have c
ome from Durham and is buried there.
Ebdon exhibited at the Society of Artists. 1767 giving his address as at Mr. Paines, Salisbury Street. no 237, View of the inside of Durham Cathedral.
In 1770 he was at Mr. Hewits, Little May Buildings.
Ebdon was elected a member of the Florentine Academy whilst in Italy 1776 - giving his address as at Earl Cowpers he exhibited viiews of Roman Temples at the Society of Artists in 1778, 1780 and 1783. No. 89 and 90 Designs for Lodges to Tehidy Park, Cornwall seat of Sir Francis Basset, Bart.
He was employed on and off as an assistant by his friend John Soane 1787 (Chillington) - 1792 they had both worked in the office of Henry Holland.
The internet gives various dates for the Assembly Rooms construction but the date on the central Coade Stone gryphon Relief and on the round relief of the Muse would suggest around 1786.
I was unable to access the building but the interior appears to have been destroyed when it became the Cathedral Garage.
This has so far been a particularly difficult building to research and the treatment of the property and surrounding buildings like many town centres in England in the 20th Century has been woeful.
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A Photograph of the Assembly Rooms probably late 19th Century.
Showing the original fenestration on the ground floor.
The sign above the ground floor (The Post and?) Telegraph Office.
Conveyance 18 September 1886 of 14 High Cross, formerly in occupation of
Richard Andrews, postmaster, now unoccupied, bounded north by road leading from
Chapel Yard to Union Place, on east by St Mary's rectory, on south by High
Cross and on west by Assembly Rooms.
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The photographs below taken with a telephoto lense by the author.
The detail on all the Coade relefs is exceptionally fine.
