There is some dispute over the architect and the date of build. George Clement Boase (1890) writes that the Egyptian Hall was built by John Lavin, and a deed of 1850 states that he occupied 6–7 Chapel Street and ″... some time since erected and built by him.″ In Reminiscences of Penzance (1883) the house was built in about 1839, ″.... which was built in imitation of the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London .... Laws (1974) writes that John Foulston of Plymouth may be the architect. Foulston designed the Classical and Mathematical School, Ker Street, Devonport in 1823 which the Penzance building closely resembles. There is an assertion that the Chapel Street building is an exact copy of Peter Robinson's 1811–12 museum in Piccadilly, London, which is not correct. Although an 1883 account (see above) states that it was an ″imitation″. Robinson rebuilt Trelissick the seat of Thomas Daniell in 1824–25.
