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C O N T E X T 1 7 9 : M A R C H 2 0 2 4 3 William Porden, in the early 1800s. The Studio Theatre’s original features, such as crenelated windows that mimic the character of the Royal Pavilion, have been conserved and its ceiling replaced with a new yet historically accurate version. Its exterior has been restored and repaired. The Grade I listed Concert Hall and Corn Exchange were originally commissioned in 1803 as a stable block and riding house to accompany the Prince Regent’s extravagant seaside palace, the Royal Pavilion. William Porden took inspiration from the Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque) in Delhi for the stable’s exterior, and the glass ceiling of the huge domed roof owed a debt to the Paris Corn Exchange. The dimensions of the riding house were equally ambitious, its 18-metre-wide single span timber roof remaining the largest in the country. The stables were used as a cavalry barracks until the interior was remodelled as a concert and assembly hall, and reopened in 1867. The riding house reopened in 1868 as a Corn Exchange. In 1934 and 1935, both the Concert Hall and Corn Exchange were refurbished by architect Robert Atkinson. The Concert Hall received a radical art-deco redesign, and the Corn Exchange was repurposed as a single, grand room for exhibitions and functions. Lord Leycester’s Brethren Repairs and renovations have been carried out at Lord Leycester Hospital inWarwick, one of England’s best-preserved examples of medieval courtyard architecture. It has been home to military veterans known as the Brethren since Elizabethan times. The Master’s House and the medieval wall have opened to visitors, exhibition areas and an enlarged visitor centre have been created, and external repairs have been carried out to the almshouse that form the homes of the current Brethren. Donald Insall Associates was the architect. The Lord Leycester Hospital restored (Photos: Paul Miller)