Georgian architect was an inspiration

December 9, 2003

IVORY ROAD
(Wycliffe Road)

The Octagon Chapel, the Assembly House and the original Theatre Royal - these pictures of Ivory’s buildings are in the new book A Prospect of Norwich by George Nobbs which is in the shops now.

HIS will described him as a builder and a timber merchant... but what a builder. He was the master of master builders.

And Norwich’s favourite Georgian architect. A man who inspired generations of builders and designers.

Look around and you will see examples of the magnificent work carried out by Thomas Ivory who lived from 1707 to 1779.

He built and designed two of the finest buildings in Norwich of the 21st century — the Assembly House and the Octagon Chapel.

And his son, William, followed in his footsteps and was responsible for the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

Thomas started as a carpenter and timber merchant and his building projects got bigger and better. He was a clever man and all the time, he was studying the work of some of the leading architects in the land. Some historians think he was helped by Sir James Burrough, Master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, over the Assembly House.

The Earl of Buckinghamshire had inherited it and sold part of the site to a consortium of which he and Thomas were members and in 1754 he began to design the building we know today.

The following year, he designed The Octagon Chapel for the Presbyterians. It was described by John Wesley in 1757 as the most elegant meeting house in Europe.

His third major building in three years opened in 1758. It was the original Theatre Royal — his theatre. In this case, he was the boss. Thomas built and set up the theatre and then sold more than 90 per cent of the business in 1768.

Thomas had already bought his freedom of the City of Norwich as a carpenter in 1745. He also designed a number of fine houses, some in Surrey Street and St Helen’s House, near the Great Hospital where he spent much of his time.

In May, 1756, he advertised his splendid house in St Martin at Oak for sale explaining: “Mr Ivory is going to live at his timber yard in Bishopgate Street where he carries on his several branches of trade as usual.”

William, and another son also called Thomas, carried on the good work and developed the big timber yard bringing in wood from across Europe. They were also top craftsmen and were employed at Blickling Hall. Son William also built a Gothic pew for his family and servants in the south transept of St Helen’s Church.

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