Hampstead Town Hall

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Hampstead Town Hall

Middlesex

Former Hampstead town hall, Haverstock Hill - geograph.org.uk - 415063.jpg
Hampstead Town Hall
Location
Grid reference: TQ272851
Location: 51°33’4"N, 0°9’59"W
Town: Hampstead
History
Built 1878
By: Henry Edward Kendall
and Frederick Mew
Italianate
Information

Hampstead Town hall is a municipal building on Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, Middlesex. It is no longer used as a sear of local government, but has been transformed into an arts centre.

The Town Hall is a Grade II listed building.[1]

History

The facility was commissioned as the offices of the Hampstead Vestry.[2] It was designed by Henry Edward Kendall and Frederick Mew in the Italianate style and was built by William Shepherd of Bermondsey; the building was opened without ceremony in June 1878.[2] Meetings of the Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society were held at the town hall from 1897.[3]

The hall became the headquarters of the 'Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead' when it was formed in 1900.[4] A substantial extension was built to a design by John Murray in the Baroque style, extending south west along Belsize Avenue in 1911.[2]

During the Second World War, air raid shelters were built in the grounds.[5]

Hampstead Town Hall ceased to function as the local of seat of government when the enlarged Camden council was formed in 1965. Instead it served as the local Registry Office. However large sections of the building had fallen into a state of disrepair by the 1990s.[6]

The Town Hall was subsequently converted, to the designs of Burrell Foley Fischer with a large glass atrium, for use as an arts centre in 2000.[2]

References

  1. National Heritage List 1378818: Hampstead Town Hall and attached walls and piers (Grade II listing)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 'London's Town Halls' (Historic England), page 32
  3. A History of the County of Middlesex - Volume 9 : Hampstead: Social and Cultural Activities (Victoria County History)
  4. Terry, Warner; Morle, Bartlett. "London Government Act 1899". Butterworth & Co.. https://archive.org/details/londongovernmen00deptgoog. Retrieved 28 April 2020. 
  5. "Old Hampstead Town Hall". Open House London. https://openhouselondon.open-city.org.uk/listings/7681. Retrieved 28 April 2020. 
  6. "Our Building". Wac Arts. https://www.wacarts.co.uk/who-we-are/our-building. Retrieved 28 April 2020.