Stoke-upon-Trent Town Hall | |
---|---|
Location | Glebe Street, Stoke-upon-Trent |
Coordinates | 53°00′17″N 2°10′55″W / 53.0047°N 2.1820°W |
Built | 1834 |
Architect | Henry Ward |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Jubilee Hall Kings Hall Town Hall |
Designated | 19 April 1972 |
Reference no. | 1297959 |
Stoke-upon-Trent Town Hall is a municipal building in Glebe Street, Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The town hall, which is the meeting place of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The first town hall in Stoke-upon-Trent was erected in the Market Place between Market Street (now known as Hill Street) and Hide Street in 1794: it had arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and an assembly room was established on the first floor. [2] [3] After significant industrial growth in the early 19th century, particularly associated with the potteries industry, civic leaders decided to procure a larger structure: the site selected was north east of the original structure in the heart of the potteries manufacturing area. [4] [a]
The new building was designed by Henry Ward in the neoclassical style, built in rusticated stone on the ground floor and ashlar stone above and was completed in 1834. [1] The design originally involved a symmetrical main frontage with just three bays facing onto the Glebe Street; it featured a large portico with three archways on the ground floor beneath four Ionic order columns supporting an entablature and a pediment. [1] It was extended with a north wing for use by the police in 1842 and a south wing for use by the courts in around 1850. [1] The outer bays in each of the two wings were slightly projected forward, enhanced with Ionic order pilasters on the first floor and pedimented as pavilions. [1] Internally, the principal room was a market hall in the centre of the building, [7] but the ground floor was remodelled in 1888 to convert the market hall into a public hall and to create a council chamber, a mayor's parlour and some municipal offices. [8]
Assembly rooms known as the King's Hall and the Jubilee Hall were constructed to a design by Thomas Wallis and James Albert Bowden behind the main structure in 1911. [1] [9] The town hall became the headquarters of the new county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910 and King George V and Queen Mary visited the town hall and announced the town's advancement to city status on 5 June 1925. [10] The rock band, the Beatles, performed at a concert in the King's Hall on 26 January 1963. [11] The building remained the local seat of government after the formation of the enlarged Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 1974. [12]
The new city council inherited additional facilities at Unity House in Hanley which had been completed in 1973, but as part of an initiative to co-locate its staff, the city council vacated Unity House and constructed a civic centre to the immediate north of the town hall in 1992. [13] In 2012 the city council announced its intention to relocate some of its staff back to Hanley but into a newly built facility there. [14] [15] After a programme of refurbishment works costing £1.5 million was completed in 2018, the register office moved from Hanley Town Hall into the newly-refurbished building in October 2020. [16]
Stoke-upon-Trent Town Hall | |
---|---|
Location | Glebe Street, Stoke-upon-Trent |
Coordinates | 53°00′17″N 2°10′55″W / 53.0047°N 2.1820°W |
Built | 1834 |
Architect | Henry Ward |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Jubilee Hall Kings Hall Town Hall |
Designated | 19 April 1972 |
Reference no. | 1297959 |
Stoke-upon-Trent Town Hall is a municipal building in Glebe Street, Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The town hall, which is the meeting place of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The first town hall in Stoke-upon-Trent was erected in the Market Place between Market Street (now known as Hill Street) and Hide Street in 1794: it had arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and an assembly room was established on the first floor. [2] [3] After significant industrial growth in the early 19th century, particularly associated with the potteries industry, civic leaders decided to procure a larger structure: the site selected was north east of the original structure in the heart of the potteries manufacturing area. [4] [a]
The new building was designed by Henry Ward in the neoclassical style, built in rusticated stone on the ground floor and ashlar stone above and was completed in 1834. [1] The design originally involved a symmetrical main frontage with just three bays facing onto the Glebe Street; it featured a large portico with three archways on the ground floor beneath four Ionic order columns supporting an entablature and a pediment. [1] It was extended with a north wing for use by the police in 1842 and a south wing for use by the courts in around 1850. [1] The outer bays in each of the two wings were slightly projected forward, enhanced with Ionic order pilasters on the first floor and pedimented as pavilions. [1] Internally, the principal room was a market hall in the centre of the building, [7] but the ground floor was remodelled in 1888 to convert the market hall into a public hall and to create a council chamber, a mayor's parlour and some municipal offices. [8]
Assembly rooms known as the King's Hall and the Jubilee Hall were constructed to a design by Thomas Wallis and James Albert Bowden behind the main structure in 1911. [1] [9] The town hall became the headquarters of the new county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910 and King George V and Queen Mary visited the town hall and announced the town's advancement to city status on 5 June 1925. [10] The rock band, the Beatles, performed at a concert in the King's Hall on 26 January 1963. [11] The building remained the local seat of government after the formation of the enlarged Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 1974. [12]
The new city council inherited additional facilities at Unity House in Hanley which had been completed in 1973, but as part of an initiative to co-locate its staff, the city council vacated Unity House and constructed a civic centre to the immediate north of the town hall in 1992. [13] In 2012 the city council announced its intention to relocate some of its staff back to Hanley but into a newly built facility there. [14] [15] After a programme of refurbishment works costing £1.5 million was completed in 2018, the register office moved from Hanley Town Hall into the newly-refurbished building in October 2020. [16]