Barking Town hall is a municipal building in Clockhouse Avenue, Barking, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of

Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It provides a b ...

, is a locally

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace the old town hall in East Street. A large site was chosen for the new building east of Broadway and extensive demolition of aging residential accommodation was undertaken in the late 1930s. The clearance included the buildings on Heath Street which led down to Barking Wharf. The new building was designed by Herbert Jackson and Reginald Edmonds in the Neo-Georgian style and was inspired by Stockholm City Hall. The design for the main frontage in Barking Town Square, which was brick faced, involved nine bays with an arched doorway on the ground floor, a balcony and three tall windows on the first floor and three smaller windows on the second floor; a tall clock tower surmounted by a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

was erected at roof level. The size of the building was maximised by the use of lengthy side elevations: the elevations on the north west and south east sides extended back 17 bays. Construction work started in 1939 and was delayed the completed basement was put into use as an air raid shelter for the duration of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war construction was resumed and was undertaken by the council's own direct workforce at a cost of £520,000. The building was officially opened by Dame Evelyn Sharp, Permanent Secretary of the

Ministry of Housing and Local Government The Ministry of Housing and Local Government was a United Kingdom government department formed following the Second World War, covering the areas of housing and local government. It was formed, as the Ministry of Local Government and Planning, ...

, on 17 December 1958. Barking Assembly Hall, which adjoins the main building, was added in 1961. Now known as "The Broadway", it was remodeled as an arts centre and auditorium in 2006. The town hall was established as the headquarters of the

Municipal Borough of Barking Barking was a local government district, and later civil parish and borough, in southwest Essex, England from 1882 to 1965. It was known as Barking Town from 1882 to 1931. The district included the town of Barking, eastern Beckton and the southwes ...

and continued to function as the local of seat of government when the enlarged London Borough of Barking and Dagenham was formed in 1965.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

, visited the town hall complex as part of the borough's 50th anniversary celebrations in July 2015. A major refurbishment of the complex, to a design by

Hawkins\Brown Hawkins\Brown Architects LLP is an architectural practice with studios in London and Manchester. History Roger Hawkins and Russell Brown set up Hawkins\Brown in 1988. In recent years Hawkins\Brown has won and been shortlisted for awards includ ...

, was completed in 2006 with further alterations to facilitate open plan working being completed in April 2018.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1958 City and town halls in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Barking, London