ANCIENT HOUSE GALLERY

? - 2021

The Ancient House, Buttermarket, Ipswich

The Ancient House, also known as Sparrowe's House, at 34 Buttermarket, Ipswich. The Sparrowe family became the owners of the house in 1603 and remained living at Sparrowe's House until 1850 when the building was rented and converted to become a bookshop, the conversion was under the direction of architect Richard Makilwaine Phipson, who then maintained his office at the end of the building, with bookseller Jane Pawsey living at working in the rest of the premises. The Ancient House was run by the Pawsey family until the bankruptcy of Frederick Pawsey in 1897 when the business was acquired by his then manager Walter Evans Harrison but the premises remained in the ownership of the Sparrowe family who sold the property in the mid 1970s. In 1980 Ipswich Borough Council acquired the building, but it remained bookshop until considerable renovation was required which began in 1984, when no part of the building was left untouched. After the renovations Ipswich Council rented the property in 1985 to Lakeland as a retail outlet but the attic was used as a small art gallery for occasional exhibitions. Lakeland moved out of the property in 2021 when the art gallery was closed. Suffolk artists who exhibited at the Ancient House Gallery include Michal Janowski, Joy Pirkle and Mike Wootton.




Works by This Artist