Stratford Town Hall

Stratford Town Hall is a municipal building in Stratford, London. It is a Grade II listed building.[1]

Stratford Town Hall
Stratford Town Hall
Location	Broadway, Stratford
Coordinates	51.5405°N 0.0019°E
Built	1869
Architect	John Giles and Lewis Angell
Architectural style(s)	Italianate style
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated	6 November 1974
Reference no.	1080991
Shown in Newham

History

In the mid-19th century the local board of health had met at Rokeby House in Broadway.[2][3] Following a rapid growth in the local population caused by industrial expansion,[4] civic leaders decided to procure purpose-built council offices: the site chosen for the new building was a plot of open land on the corner of Broadway and West Ham Lane.[5]

The new building, which was designed by Lewis Angell and John Giles in the Italianate style was completed in 1869.[1] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with eleven bays facing onto Broadway; the central section of three bays featured a full-height portico with rounded-headed doorways flanked by Doric order banded columns on the ground floor and round-headed windows flanked by Corinthian order columns on the first floor.[1] The left hand section curved round into West Ham Lane and the right handed section involved a square tower with a cupola and weather vane which was 30.5 metres (100 ft) high.[6] The principal rooms included a council chamber and an assembly hall which was elaborately decorated by the French designer, Mons Boekbinder.[2][7] The design of the building was described by the Illustrated London News, in 1869, as the "finest building in Essex"[8] and by Pevsner, in 1973, as a "debased arched cinquecento".[9]

The foundation stone for an extension along West Ham Lane was laid by the chairman of the local board, George Rivett, in 1885; the extension, which was also designed by Lewis Angell, was intended to accommodate a courthouse and cells.[6] The building became the headquarters of the new Municipal Borough of West Ham in 1886[10][11] and, after becoming the centre of administration for the County Borough of West Ham in 1889,[2] it became the home of the first Labour Party municipal administration in 1898.[4]

The town hall continued to be the home of the county borough for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government after the formation of the London Borough of Newham in 1965.[12] It then served as offices for the education department of Newham council until a major fire broke out causing considerable damage on 26 June 1982.[2] It was restored to the designs of the borough architect, Kenneth Lund, and was re-opened by Queen Elizabeth II as a conference centre on 16 July 1986.[13]

References

1. Historic England. "Education Offices (1080991)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
2. "London's Town Halls". Historic England. p. 160. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
3. Powell, W R (1973). "'West Ham: Domestic buildings', in A History of the County of Essex". London: British History Online. pp. 50–57. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
4. Powell, W R (1973). "'West Ham: Local government and public services', in A History of the County of Essex". London: British History Online. pp. 96–112. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
5. "Ordnance Survey Map". 1850. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
6. "1869 – Public Office & Vestry Hall, Stratford, London". archiseek.com. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
7. "Stratford Old Town Hall". London Borough of Newham. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
8. The Illustrated London News. 18 September 1869. p. 272.
9. Pevsner, Nikolaus (1973). The buildings of England: Essex. Penguin. p. 374. ISBN 978-0140710113.
10. "No. 25596". The London Gazette. 11 June 1886. pp. 2797–2798.
11. "The Incorporation Of West Ham". The Times. 23 June 1886. p. 6.
12. "Local Government Act 1963". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
13. "The Old Town Hall Stratford". Stratford Renaissance Partnership. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.