A small room of brass and breath, kept above the framing shop on Pearl Street, open most afternoons until the light goes.
Curated by I. M. Lark · Free to enter · Please ring kindly
Tap any bell to ring it. Each one has a story on the placard below. If you ring all twelve, something quiet happens.
Select a bell to read its placard.
The conservatory was opened in 1979 by Mr. Imrich Lark, a former bicycle mechanic who had, by his own admission, been collecting bells "since a confused afternoon in 1948" and could no longer keep them in his kitchen. The room above the framing shop seats nine and contains, at last count, two hundred and eleven bells. Only twelve are out at any given time. The others rest in cigar boxes lined with felt that Mr. Lark cuts himself.
Visitors are encouraged to ring. It is the considered view of the conservatory that a silent bell is a sad bell, and that the loudest collection is the most respected.
The conservatory does not charge admission, but a jar by the door accepts a penny, a button, or a note about a bell you once loved.
The conservatory will reopen Tuesday, weather permitting and Mr. Lark willing. — Sound made nicely is a small public good.