Bernays Institute is a Victorian building in

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...

London Borough of Harrow The London Borough of Harrow () is a London borough in northwest London, England; it forms part of Outer London. It borders four other London boroughs Barnet to the east of ancient Watling Street (now the A5 road), Brent to the southeast, Ea ...

, England, that currently functions as a community event hall, Bernays Memorial Hall.

History

It was built in the old village of Great Stanmore as a

parish hall A church hall or parish hall is a room or building associated with a church, generally for community and charitable use.

and opened on 8 December 1871 by

Lord George Hamilton Lord George Francis Hamilton (17 December 1845 – 22 September 1927) was a British Conservative Party politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who served as First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for India. Background ...

. Bernays Institute was built as a memorial to Ernest Bernays, eldest son of

Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

Leopold Bernays, who was the rector of Stanmore at the time and chairman of Stanmore Gas Company off Marsh Lane. Ernest died at the age of 22 in a drowning accident on holiday in Ireland on 31 August 1870 - this date is written on the front of the building - he was buried at

St John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given t ...

churchyard. The building was built on a plot of

glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

land that was sold by Leopold on behalf of the church. In its early years the hall was often used for Bible classes, concerts and was used by the local

temperance society The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emphas ...

. In 1899 it housed a library. That same decade a working men's club opened beside the building which is still open today. In 1959 as reported by the ''Harrow Observer'', Harrow Urban District mayor H.W. Cutler called Bernays Institute "an awful dump .an eyesore in a pleasant district .a shack of the worst architectural design" during a dinner hosted in the institute's honour. Cutler pledged to build a new building in its place. In the 1980s its future became uncertain as schemes for local town centre redevelopment and a shopping complex were made that involved demolishing the hall. Following opposition in 1991 the institute was saved from demolition. A committee was set up by fundraisers to restore the building which included a grant by the Harrow Heritage Trust. It was added to the Local List of buildings of Architectural and Historic interest in 1993. Restoration work took 18 years, completing in 2009.

Architecture

Bernays Institute was built by Victorian architect J.T. Barker in church-like red brick with

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

features and a

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

. During restoration, a mural was created by a local artist inside the hall that shows various landmarks and the faces of residents of Stanmore including the Bernays family.

Bernays Gardens

Named after the Bernays, these public gardens were constructed in the 20th century located off Old Church Lane, at the site of the old Manor House that was demolished in 1930.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Harrow Victorian architecture in England Bernays family