The Victoria Rooms, also known as the Vic Rooms, houses the University of Bristol's music department in Clifton, Bristol, England, on a prominent site at the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. The building, originally assembly rooms, was designed by Charles Dyer and was constructed between 1838 and 1842 in Greek revival style, and named in honour of Queen Victoria, who had acceded to the throne in the previous year. An eight column Corinthian portico surmounts the entrance, with a classical relief sculpture designed by Musgrave Watson above. The construction is of dressed stonework, with a slate roof. A bronze statue of Edward VII, was erected in 1912 at the front of the Victoria Rooms, together with a curved pool and several fountains with sculptures in the Art Nouveau style.
The Victoria Rooms contain a 665-seat auditorium, a lecture theatre, recital rooms, rehearsal rooms and a recording studio. Jenny Lind and Charles Dickens performed at the Victoria Rooms. It was also the venue for important dinners and assemblies, including banquets to commemorate the opening of the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the quatercentennial anniversary of Cabot's discovery of North America, meetings which led to the establishment of the University College, Bristol, an early congress of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and suffragettes "at-homes". The building was purchased and given to the university in 1920 as a home for the student union and, circa 1924, it spent a brief period as a cinema. Following a fire in 1934, the building was refurbished by the university. It remained as the base of the student union until purpose built facilities were opened in Queens Road in the 1960s. The Victoria Rooms then became an exhibition and conference centre, before housing the music department in 1996. They remain in use in the 21st century for concerts, exhibitions, plays, recitals and lectures.
The building
The Victoria Rooms, also known colloquially as the Vic Rooms, are situated at the junction of Queen's Road and Whiteladies Road, in Clifton, Bristol, "occupying one of the finest sites in Clifton," according to a 1906 visitor's guide. Gomme, in Bristol: an architectural history (1979), described it as a key building on a prominent intersection. The building was designed as assembly rooms by Charles Dyer. The foundation stone was laid on 24 May 1838, the 19th birthday of Queen Victoria, in whose honour the building was named.
Building works in the Greek revival style, incorporating an eight-columned Corinthian portico which is tall, were completed in 1842. It is constructed of ashlar (dressed stone work) with steps leading up to the portico. The roof is of slate. Two sloping ramps were built to allow the passage of carriages into the building. The pediment in the blind attic above the columns has a relief carving attributed to Musgrave Watson "depicting Wisdom in her chariot ushering in the morning, and followed by the Three Graces", according to Andrew Foyle in Pevsner's Guide. He adds that the main hall was disappointingly remodelled in 1935, following a fire the previous year. In 1838, the design of the interior was described as "nothing either particularly remarkable or new in regard to design" in the Civil Engineer and Architects' Journal. In 1849, the interior of the hall was described by Chilcott, in his Descriptive history of Bristol as being decorated in a Greek theme, to match the exterior of the building. Gomme describes the pediment sculpture as "Minerva in car driven by Apollo, accompanied by the Hours and Graces", attributing the sculpture to Jabez Tyley. Henry Lonsdale, writing in 1866, explains this anomaly by revealing that Tyley created the sculpture in Bath Stone from a plaster of paris model by Watson. The architecture of the building is described by English Heritage as "a product of European trends of the time, moving away from Neoclassicism and towards Roman Corinthian design." It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.