Gibraltar City Hall
| Gibraltar City Hall | |
|
Gibraltar | |
|---|---|
 Gibraltar City Hall, from John Mackintosh Square | |
| Type: | Town hall |
| Location | |
| Location: | 36°8’27"N, 5°21’16"W |
| History | |
| Address: | John Mackintosh Square |
| Built 1819 | |
| For: | Aaron Cardozo |
| Town hall | |
| Regency | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Government of Gibraltar |
The Gibraltar City Hall, formerly known as 'Connaught House', is the former city hall for Gibraltar, centrally located within the city at the west end of John Mackintosh Square. It is today the official residence and office of the Mayor of Gibraltar.
Contents
History
The building was originally a private mansion built in 1819[1] by Aaron Cardozo, a prosperous merchant of Jewish Portuguese descent who had settled in Gibraltar, as his family home. It was the grandest private mansion ever seen in Gibraltar,[2] a three-storey house which dominated John Mackintosh Square.
Cardozo built his house on the site of the old hospital and chapel of La Santa Misericordia and later prison.[1] As he was not a Protestant, Cardozo was not legally allowed to own property in Gibraltar. However, as he had been a close friend of Lord Nelson and had supplied his fleet, he was eventually granted a site to build a house in the Alameda on the condition that it be "an ornament" to the square.[2] Its cost was about £40,000.[3]
After his death in 1834, Cardozo's mansion was leased to John Ansaldo[4] as a hotel,[1] the Club House Hotel.
The house was bought in 1874 by Pablo Antonio Larios, a wealthy businessman and banker, Gibraltarian-born but member of a Spanish family, the Larios, who completely refurbished the building.[1] In 1922, his son Pablo Larios, Marquis of Marzales (Master of the Royal Calpe Hunt for 45 years), sold the building to the Gibraltar colonial authorities, which intended to turn it into a post office. However, it eventually became the seat of the newly formed Gibraltar City Council.[5]
Since 1926, the Gibraltar telephone service was operated by the City Council,[6] and an automatic exchange serving the territory was installed in the last floor of the building. The building was later extended (including a new storey and a new body to the North) modifying its original symmetry. Nowadays, it houses the Mayor's Parlour.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Gibraltar City Hall) |
References
Books
- Benady, Tito (1996). The Streets of Gibraltar. Gibraltar Books. pp. 17–19. ISBN 0-948466-37-5.
- Bond, Peter (2003). 300 Years of British Gibraltar 1704-2004. Peter-Tan Publishing Co..
- Stephen Constantine (2009). Community and identity. The making of modern Gibraltar since 1704. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8054-8.
