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49 High Street

    Current

    CrownHouse
    49
    High Street
    Lowestoft
    United Kingdom

    Crown house now flats

    History
     PLAQUE:49 alt
    PLAQUE:49

    NO48A, THE HIGH STREET

    on the 2nd photo, ot the right-side corner of No48 you can make-out a small gate which lead to a now bricked up doorway by the green wheelie bin which was once the entrance to the offices of Reeve and Mayhew solicitors and Commissioners to administer oaths in 1900. By 1967 it was the offices of the Lowestoft Coaling Company, now the offices are long gone and it has returned to private use.

    NO49, THE HIGH STREET 

    Crown House was built in the 17th century for Mr Robert Reeve and his wife Pleasance Reeve. They had a daughter who was born on the 7th May 1773 who was their 5th child and only the second to survive infancy. At the age of 23 she married the botanist Sir James Edward Smith who  was  president of the Linnean Society. On the death of her husband at the age of 54 she moved from their home in Norwich to her father’s House (Crown House). She lived there until her death in February 1877 at the age of 103 years. Lady Pleasance Smith, who was quite close to queen Victoria was a benefactor to the poor in Lowestoft and after her death, a stained-glass window was placed in St. Margaret's church in her memory. Today this once grand house is now spilt into flats. The plaque on the outside of the building reads: - Home of Sir James Smith founder member of the Linnean society and lady Pleasance Smith 1773-1877 benefactor to the poor and a great friend of Queen Victoria.

    CREDIT: Lowestoft High Street, The Butcher, The Baker and The Candlestick Maker by Crispin Hook 2016 Get the book

     

    In the 1851 Census Lady Pleasance Smith is recorded as being at 49 High Street and lived there until her death on 3 February 1877. It has been unable to discover where she was living between 1828 (thought to be Lowestoft) and her appearance in the 1851 Census, though there's some evidence she moved to Number 49 in 1849.

    After her marriage to James Edward Smith in 1796 until his death on 17 March 1828 in Norwich the couple lived at 29 Surrey Street, Norwich. Pleasance's husband was buried in the Reeve family vault in St. Margaret's churchyard, Lowestoft on 24 March. Her maiden name was Reeve and she was the daughter of Robert Reeve, a eminent lawyer and merchant of Lowestoft.

    So, where she lived between her husband's death and her name appearing in Lowestoft in the 1851 census is a bit of a mystery. When the 1841 census was taken she is not listed in Lowestoft, in fact Ivan can't find her name anywhere in the country on that census! The house in which she lived on High Street, Lowestoft (No.49) was occupied by a Grocer named John Devereux and his family in 1841.The Dictionary of National Biography states that she moved into 49 High Street in 1849. According to the DNB this house was built for her by her father, which might indicate that the the house that William Devereux lived in was an older property which stood on this site. However, the DNB is wrong in this assumption as Robert, her father, died in July 1815 and was buried in St. Margaret's churchyard. In his extremely extensive Will (National Archives, Ref:prob 11/1572) he mentions a number of properties he owned in Lowestoft which he left to his wife for life (she died in 1840) and then after her to sons James & Robert and daughter Pleasance. Unfortunately it is not possible to identify the locations of these houses. However Ivan thinks she probably moved into No. 49 in 1849 as the DNB states.

    Ivan reckons there is perhaps a clue in a statement that a close, lifetime friend Rev C. Lesingham Smith (no relation), wrote in a lengthy obituary published in "The Times". He wrote:

    "...on the death of her husband, she drew up and published, in 2vols. 8vo, ' Memoir and Correspondence of the late Sir J. E. Smith,' and in this work she, with characteristic modesty, keeps herself almost completely out of sight, not even mentioning her marriage, save incidentally. . ."

    " Pleasance Smith (née Reeve; 11 May 1773 – 3 February 1877) was an English letter writer, literary editor, and centenarian. Smith lived to the age of 103, becoming well known in later life on account of her advanced years." Wikipedia

    (Text by Ivan Bunn, edited John Ellerby)

     

    Architecture
    building
    Credit: Joe Thompson
    1943
    1943 credit:%20Russell Walker

    In 1720, the site of No. 49 High Street was in the tenancy of Mrs. Deborah Ashby, widow of Thomas (merchant) - the property having passed through various other hands before 1682 - the year in which she and her husband gained admission to the property by terms of her mother's will. The Ashbys were a well-established Lowestoft family of mariner-merchants, the most notable member of which was Admiral Sir John Ashby, whose naval career reached its height during the reign of William and Mary (1689-94). Mrs. Ashby was descended from the Hawes family (boatwrights and mariners), whose first local resident (Robert) had been Vicar of Lowestoft from 1610-39 and whose sons, Thomas and Godsgift, had both adopted maritime-related occupations.

    The property is described in a listing of the time (1720) as consisting of two or three tenements, abutting onto the High Street to the east and Whaplond Way (Whapload Road) to the west. Earlier information in the manor court records refer to it as once having consisted of two parts: a messuage and garden, and a piece of pasture land known as "Gare's" - this name most likely deriving from that of Robert Gare (merchant), who features in the 1524-5 Lay Subsidy. The pasture referred to would almost certainly have been a piece of undeveloped land located at the bottom of the cliff.

    The house seen today was built during the mid-18th century and, by the end of it, was in the hands of the Reeve family (via a connection with the Ashbys) - Robert Reeve being both attorney-at-law and steward of the manor. It is the only building on the High Street set back from the pavement - something done to make the building stand out and raise its profile, both visually and socially. It also enabled the construction of the four steps leading up to the impressive front door. As an example of "architectural one-upmanship", in a localised context, it is hard to beat! CREDIT:David Butcher


    Crown House, 49 High Street, Lowestoft during WWII with the building having apparently received bomb damage. A sailor, possibly from nearby HMS Europa at Sparrow's Nest, pauses to pose for the photographer. The Grade II listed building is familiar to many that have frequented the High Street with it now being flats and is opposite the former Crown Hotel and Istanbul takeaway. Photo was taken on Tuesday 8th June 1943.
    Further historical information: House. c1760. Brick with roof of black-glazed pantiles. 3 storeys and basement in 3 bays. Central 6-panelled door reached by a flight of brick and stone steps with circular section iron railings. 5-vaned fanlight over door. Timber doorcase composed of a pediment supported on a pair of engaged unfluted Ionic columns. 6/6 sashes to the ground and first floor, 3/3 sashes second floor, all under gauged skewback arches. Dentil eaves cornice below gabled roof. Internal gable-end stacks north and south. The rear has a 4-storey 2 by 2 bay extension with a rendered ground floor. 6/6 sashes and 3/3 sashes to the upper floor. Stick baluster staircase in south-east corner of main block. The house is set back from the street and separated from it by circular section iron railings with a central gate. CREDIT: Russell Walker


    No. 49, the High Street also  known as Crown House because it's close to Crown Score and the Crown Hotel opposite and... it is unique in the High Street of Lowestoft because it's the only house that actually has a front garden. It's a Grade 2 listed building, which means it's protected and also its reckoned  to have been constructed around about 1760.   

    A big house, 1911 census it's listed  as having 12 rooms and it's a very grand building with its grand doorway and as  such grand buildings usually have grand residents  and the owner who resided here for many many years  was a very wealthy widow, Lady Pleasance Smith. She lived here most of her life until her death. At the time the photograph was taken these were offices for the town council, the borough council. The Town Hall is over the road, almost opposite.  And today, like so many, it's... that's a better view now, today,  it's now, as are so many of the buildings in Lowestoft High Street It's now divided into flats and  apartments but it is a grand building.   CREDIT: Ivan Bunn from transcript - Poetry People - High Street Histories 

    ArchitectureListing

    TM5593NW HIGH STREET 914-1/8/30 (East side) 13/12/49 No.49 Crown House including railings to steps and street frontage 

    GV II 

    House. c1760. Brick with roof of black-glazed pantiles. 3 storeys and basement in 3 bays. Central 6-panelled door reached by a flight of brick and stone steps with circular section iron railings. 5-vaned fanlight over door. Timber doorcase composed of a pediment supported on a pair of engaged unfluted Ionic columns. 6/6 sashes to the ground and first floor, 3/3 sashes second floor, all under gauged skewback arches. Dentil eaves cornice below gabled roof. Internal gable-end stacks north and south. The rear has a 4-storey 2 by 2 bay extension with a rendered ground floor. 6/6 sashes and 3/3 sashes to the upper floor. Stick baluster staircase in south-east corner of main block. The house is set back from the street and separated from it by circular section iron railings with a central gate. CREDIT: Historic England

    Related topic

    52.482888592129, 1.7561843153089

    Comments

    webmaster Tue, 05/11/2024 - 13:47

    Was occupied by the Borough Engineers Department for many years. I worked their in the  Borough Architects section for 8 happy years, leaving only because Local Government reorganisation was looming! CREDIT: Derek Lyne

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