37 Queen Street is an 18th century building purchased in 1938 by Essex Council and used as a police station by the borough force and then Essex Constabulary when they amalgamated. The police moved to the new police station on Southway in 1989.
The groundfloor at Queen Street became a bar, but the rest of the building remained unused. This meant that most of the building remained as it had been when it was a police station, including the cell block, CID and admin offices, until 2017 when SPACE Colchester opened an artist community offering 37 creative studios, a workspace facility and cultural venue.
Join former CID and Scenes of Crime Officer Chris Farndell, who served at Queen Street, for a fascinating tour of the old police station. Tours will take approx 1 hour.
Access: please be aware, this is an old building with some narrow staircases. This is a walking tour that will last approx 1 hour. Toilets are available, and there is lift access throughout the building.
The artist studios will be open on the day from 10am – 5pm. Feel free to stay on after the tour to take a look around our thriving artist community, meet photographers, textile artists, painters, graphic designers, jewellers and more and buy work direct from their studio. The whole event is free.
