Assembly Rooms – Octagon and Card Room

The Ballroom and Tea Room are linked by the Octagon Room which was originally intended as a circulating space which could also be used for music and playing cards. On Sundays, when cards were not allowed, visitors could listen to the organ, which once stood in the musician's gallery.

Perhaps because more space was needed, a new Card Room was added in 1777 but the architect is not known. Today this room is used as a refreshment room.

The Octagon Room is dominated by Gainsborough's portrait of the first Master of Ceremonies at the Upper Rooms, Captain William Wade. Bath's most famous Master of Ceremonies, Richard "Beau" Nash, never knew this building as he died in 1761.

Image: view of the empty Octagon Room, three walls of the octagonal room can be seen, the walls are yellow the arched windows on every other wall are at a high level with grand fireplaces beneath, a large fine chandelier is in the centre of the room