A town’s museum has submitted plans for three buildings on its site.
The Food Museum in Iliffe Way, Stowmarket, has put forward proposals to Mid Suffolk District Council to work on two of its historic buildings and to develop a new third building.
This includes relocating Edgar’s Farmhouse, developing Boby Building and developing a new Kitchen Exhibition Building.
A CGI image of Edgar’s Farmhouse may be relocated to the museum’s westerly meadow. Picture: Modece Architects
Edgar’s Farmhouse is a 14th-century structure which was uncovered within a larger Victorian-era farmhouse.
The Grade II* listed building, with its central hall and aisle design which is uncommon in the East of England, was demolished in the 1970s to make way for new housing to the south of Stowmarket and rebuilt at the museum.
It is now located by the Collection’s Store but the plans look to move it and bring it closer to the other historic buildings at the Food Museum.
The proposal would move Edgar’s Farmhouse to the site’s westerly meadow which would allow ‘appropriate space and setting’ for the museum’s future developments.
If the plans are approved, the museum will also build a crosswing parlour, a service wing and an external kitchen at the farmhouse once it is rebuilt in its new location.
The plans for the Boby Building include a new entrance. Picture: Modece Architects
The Boby Building dates back to the 1870s and was originally part of Robert Boby’s engineering workshops in Bury St Edmunds.
It was later relocated to the Food Museum where it now resides in the Top Field area near the Bone Building and serves as one of the museum’s primary collection spaces for agricultural engines, individual craft workshops and a functioning printing press.
The museum hopes to carry-out an ‘internal reconfiguration’ to make the building more versatile and accessible with the addition of stairs, a platform lift, accessible toilets, a new kitchen and a plant room.
If approved, part of the plans would see a corten steel canopy form a new entrance feature on the front of the building — including signage and wayfinding for visitors which leads into a lobby area.
It is hoped the alterations would make the building a more ‘welcoming and attractive venue for exhibitions and events’.
The proposed Kitchen Exhibition Building. Picture: Modece Architects
The final part of the proposal is to deliver a new building to grow audiences and give better coherence to the museum experience.
The plans seek to build a Kitchen Building which would provide a new space for activities, live cooking demonstrations as well as ancillary accommodation that would work as an educational tool — covering different cooking methods from the past and present
It would be next to The Smithy, built in 1750, and would aim to accommodate the museum’s demand for schools visits, community activities and private event bookings.
The building would also look to give visitors help on arrival and an introduction to the Food Museum and what’s on offer.