Erith Town Hall

Erith Town hall is a municipal building in Walnut Tree Road, Erith, London. It is a locally listed building.[1]

Erith Town Hall
Erith Town Hall
LocationErith
Coordinates51.4808°N 0.1779°E / 51.4808; 0.1779
Built1932
ArchitectHarold Hind
Architectural style(s)Italian Renaisance style
Shown in Bexley

History

In the late 19th century Erith Urban District Council had been based at council offices in the High Street.[2] After civic leaders found that this arrangement was inadequate for their needs, they decided to move to a former private residence known as Walnut Tree House in Walnut Tree Road in 1902.[lower-alpha 1] By the late 1920s, Walnut Tree House had also become inadequate and it was demolished to make way for the current structure in 1931.[6]

The new building, which was designed by Harold Hind, the council surveyor, in the Italian Renaisance style,[7] was officially opened on 2 June 1932.[8] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays on the corner of Walnut Tree Road and Bexley Road; the central section featured a portico flanked by Doric order columns on the ground floor; there was a balcony and two windows on the first floor with a pediment above bearing the borough coat of arms. The building became the headquarters of the Municipal Borough of Erith when the area was awarded municipal borough status in 1938.[9]

The building remained the local seat of government of the enlarged London Borough of Bexley when it was formed in 1965[10] but the new council only used Erith Town Hall briefly, choosing instead to move to new Civic Offices on the south side of the Broadway in Bexleyheath in 1980.[11] Erith Town Hall was expanded by the addition of an extra floor in the early 1990s, in anticipation of becoming the home for Capita staff who took over responsibility for processing council revenues and housing benefits in 1996.[12] This outsourcing arrangement was extended in 2011[13] and again in 2019.[14] The building was briefly evacuated after a suspicious package was found in the mail in November 2019.[15]

Notes
  1. Walnut Tree House had originally been bought from the Parish family to facilitate the Erith Tramways project;[3] it was used as an annex to the Erith Sanatorium in Belmont Road from 1900 to 1902.[4][5]

References
  1. "Local List" (PDF). London Borough of Bexley. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. "Erith UDC Offices c.1900". Bexley Borough Photos. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  3. "Walnut Tree Road". Layers of London. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  4. Tamsett, Trevor (1 October 2015). "A Short History of Erith Sanatorium 1893-1945" (PDF). Bexley Historical Society. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  5. "The Sanatorium". Lost Hospitals of London. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  6. "Copy of a sketch published in the Kentish Times shortly before demolition of the house". Bexley Archives. 1931. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  7. "Opening of the Town Hall", Erith Observer, 10 June 1932
  8. "Proposed addition to the list". London Borough of Bexley. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  9. "Kent's New Borough". Dover Express. British Newspaper Archive. 30 September 1938. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  10. "Local Government Act 1963". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  11. "Oak House, Bexleyheath" (PDF). London Borough of Bexley. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  12. "Capita signs new contract with London Borough of Bexley". Shares Magazine. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  13. "Bexley extends outsourcing deal with Capita". The Guardian. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  14. "Bexley Council retains Capita for revs and bens". UK Authority. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  15. "Erith Town Hall partially evacuated over suspicious package". Bexley Times. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
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