Woolwich Town Hall

Woolwich Town Hall
Coordinates Coordinates: 51°29′22.56″N 0°3′52.76″E / 51.4896000°N 0.0646556°E / 51.4896000; 0.0646556
Location Woolwich
Designer Alfred Brumwell Thomas
Type Grade II* Listed Building
Material Portland stone
Beginning date 11 February 1903
Opening date 13 January 1906

Woolwich Town Hall is an early 20th-century town hall located in the so-called Bathway Quarter in the centre of Woolwich, South East London. Until 1965 it was the seat of local government of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, after which it became the main seat of the London Borough of Greenwich (now the Royal Borough of Greenwich). The building is a Grade II*-listed building and a rare example of an Edwardian Baroque town hall in London.

History

The Old Town Hall

Woolwich Town Hall is the third seat of local government in Woolwich. It was built in 1903–05 when the second town hall, dating from 1842, had become too small. The first town hall was built only a few years earlier, around 1839, but was almost immediately sold to the Metropolitan Police. Earlier, the local government of Woolwich, then a civil parish in the County of Kent, met in a room next to the poorhouse and in the parish church of St Mary Magdalene.[1] The old town hall was initially shared with Woolwich County Court. In 1855 the Metropolis Management Act provided every parish in the metropolitan area with its own local administration. In 1889 the parish of Woolwich became part of the newly formed County of London. In 1900 the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was formed from the parishes of Woolwich, Plumstead and Eltham. This prompted the construction of a larger and more representative town hall.

The new town hall was built from 1903 near the old one, which survives until today. New buildings for the County and Magistrates' Court, as well as a new police station and the existing library, formed a small administrative quarter. The official opening of the town hall in January 1906 took place at the insistence of Woolwich Council without royal presence. Instead Labour MP Will Crooks did the opening speech, while the first bishop of Woolwich, John Leeke blessed the building.[2] In 1929–30 a small annexe was added in Polytechnic Street.[3] Lack of space forced the borough to increasingly use space elsewhere. Across Wellington Street the Municipal Offices were built in the 1930s.

The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was abolished in 1965 and largely merged with Greenwich (a small section north of the Thames went to the London Borough of Newham). Woolwich Town Hall became the seat of local government of the new London Borough of Greenwich, from 2012 the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Greenwich Town Hall, only 25 years old and much more spaceous, was given up in compensation for the fact that the new borough took its name from the smaller but more prestigious town.

In the 1960s and 70s council offices were spread out over several rented locations. From 1977, Peggy Middleton House provided extra office space nearby. Both the Wellington Street Municipal Offices and Peggy Middleton House were demolished around 2010, and in 2011 the Woolwich Centre was opened in Wellington Street, with a new public library and new council offices.

Architecture

Exterior

Woolwich Town Hall was designed by the architect Alfred Brumwell Thomas, who more or less simultaneously worked on (more ambitious) plans for Belfast City Hall (1898–1906) and Stockport Town Hall (1905–1908).[4] It is a fine example of Edwardian Baroque in the London area. The building has two monumental façades along Wellington Street and Market Street. The Wellington Street façade features an imposing entrance of Portland stone with a colonnade and "broken" pediments. The other entrance on Market Street is decorated with military and maritime symbols. The Italianate clock tower, on the corner of the two streets, is 40 m tall. The six domes, four made of copper, that make up the roof can be seen from afar.

Interior

The Wellington Street entrance leads directly into Victoria Hall. This large space is dominated by a tall marble statue of Queen Victoria by F. W. Pomeroy, a stone copy of the bronze Statue of Queen Victoria in Chester. On both sides of the stairs bronze World War II memorial plaques were placed. The hall is also used for exhibitions and for counting votes during elections. In the centre of the building, accessed via the Market Street entrance, is the Public Hall, seating 750 people. The hall has a large dome that provides daylight.[5] Stained-glass windows throughout the building depict historic events in the parishes of Woolwich, Plumstead and Eltham, for example the entertaining of three foreign kings in Eltham Palace in 1374, the launching of the ship Henry Grace à Dieu at Woolwich Dockyard in 1514, and portraits of Thomas More, Margaret Roper and Samuel Pepys. The windows date from 1904 and are the work of Geoffrey Webb. Elsewhere in the building fine woodcarving and plasterwork can be admired.[3][6]

References

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  1. ↑ Saint & Guillery, pp. 254–256 (online text, pp. 16–17).
  2. ↑ Saint & Guillery, p. 264 (online text, pp. 27–28).
  3. 1 2 Listed building 1289668.
  4. ↑ Saint & Guillery, p. 259 (online text, p. 26).
  5. ↑ Saint & Guillery, p. 265 (online text, p. 31).
  6. ↑ Saint & Guillery, p. 266 (online text, p. 32).
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