Bromley Town Hall is a municipal building in Tweedy Road,

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

, London. Built in 1906, it is a Grade II

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 an old town hall in the Market Square which was completed in 1863. The site selected for the new building was bounded by three existing residential streets. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by a former charter mayor,

Thomas Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...

, on 25 July 1906. The new building was designed by

R. Frank Atkinson Robert Frank Atkinson (1869 – 15 June 1923) was a UK, British architect. Career Atkinson was born in Liverpool and began his career as an articled apprentice to John Francis Doyle in the same city. He remained as Doyle's assistant for 6 yea ...

in the

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and built by F. G. Minter of

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

. It was officially opened by the mayor, Alderman Reginald James, on 25 September 1907. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with 15 bays facing onto Tweedy Road; the central section of three bays featured a semi-circular porch supported by four

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

columns and surmounted by an urn on the ground floor; there were three windows with a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

above on the first floor; a wooden

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 ...

with a

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

dome was erected at roof level. The principal rooms were the council chamber and the mayor's parlour, both located on the first floor. An extension designed by

Charles Cowles-Voysey Charles Cowles-Voysey (24 June 1889 – 10 April 1981) was an English architect. Career Charles Voysey studied at the Architectural Association School and the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture. Between 1909 and 1912 he was articled to Horace ...

in the Neo-Georgian style was completed in 1939. The design involved a frontage of 17 bays facing onto Widmore Road; the central section featured a doorway with stone surround on the ground floor; there was a window with stone surround on the first floor. The principal room was a new council chamber located on a mezzanine level at the rear of the building. The building was established as the headquarters of the

Municipal Borough of Bromley Bromley was a local government district in northwest Kent from 1867 to 1965 around the town of Bromley. The area was suburban to London, and formed part of the Metropolitan Police District and from 1933 was included in the area of the London Pas ...

and continued to function as the local of seat of government when the enlarged

London Borough of Bromley The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,336 ...

was formed in 1965.

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's wedding to Mary Angela Barnett took place in the town hall in March 1970. An underground nuclear fall-out shelter was built under the extension during the 1980s. As part of a larger regeneration scheme to create a new Civic Centre, the council moved their offices to the old palace in 1982. The town hall was then used as the home of the Bromley College Business School until 2007. The building, which subsequently became vacant, was added to the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for actio ...

in 2009. In 2020 works began to convert the town hall into serviced offices, a restaurant and to establish a boutique hotel on the site. Following completion of the works, which were carried out to a design by Cartwright Pickard, the building re-opened in September 2022.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1907 City and town halls in London Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Bromley 1907 establishments in England