Building record ARG 105 - The Olgilvie Hall, Thorpeness

The Ogilvie Hall is among the most substantial buildings in Thorpeness. It was known until recently as the Workmen’s Club, and was built during 1925 and 1926 by Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie and his architect W.G. Wilson as part of the former’s Mock Tudor resort village. Ogilvie had inherited the Sizewell Hall estate on the death of his mother in 1908, and immediately began to transform the small fishing hamlet of Thorpe into a utopian holiday destination for family, friends and paying guests. By the time of his death in 1932 he had created a sophisticated and highly distinctive settlement that pre-dates its counterpart at Portmeirion in North Wales by more than a decade and reflects the social and architectural idealism of the early-20th century. It was designed in conjunction with the almshouses to reward his large estate workforce for their loyalty, and in Ogilvie’s own words to provide ‘a comfortable shelter where those from a distance could take their midday meal’, and ‘a pleasant rendez-vous during leisure hours’. Its proposed activities included whist and dancing, sport and the taking of hot baths at the price of only a penny. The ‘cosy reading and writing room where the daily papers were provided’ included an extensive library, and the large hall and stage were ideal for dramatic performances – the proscenium being opened-up by folding doors of his own design. Plays, concerts and cabarets were organised, and after the war it became a major venue for Benjamin Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival. The building operated as a social and sports club in recent years, but remains largely original apart from an incongruous porch added by the parish council in 1983. The main hall is exceptionally large by the standards of its day, extending to 24 m in length by 9.1 m in internal width (78 ft by 30 ft), with a Mock Tudor roof that represents an architectural tour de force (S1).