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Through a combination of luck and good judgement, Ipswich Unitarian Meeting House retains its original aspect and character more or less intact. This adds to its rarity for few such Meeting Houses have survived, and fewer still without drastic alteration. The rarity is heightened still further by its timber-frame construction. It is believed to be the only remaining example of a purpose-built timber-framed Dissenting MeetingHouse of its period.

The land for the Meeting House, in a courtyard off St. Nicholas Street, was purchased for £150 by the Ipswich Mercer, Thomas Bancroft. The contract for the building was signed on 5th August 1699 by six people on behalf of the congregation and by Joseph Clark, 'house carpenter', of Ipswich. The cost, excluding windows, galleries, pews and pulpit, was £256-14s-6d. The galleries cost a further £96. The contract - still extant - provided for 'four Barrells of good small beer' to be supplied to Clark and his workmen whilst 'Imployed in the said Building' - perhaps supplied by Thomas Catchpole, 'beer brewer', one of the congregations signatories! The prefabricated timber frame construction meant that the basic building work did not take long - about two and a half months - and the official opening service was held on 26th April 1700.