Chelsea Town Hall is a municipal building in

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, London. The oldest part 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 ...

and the later part is Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace a mid-19th-century

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

hall on King's Road, which had been designed by

William Willmer Pocock William Willmer Pocock (8 May 1813 – 18 September 1899) was a British architect. He was born in Knightsbridge in Middlesex, the son of the architect William Fuller Pocock (1779–1849) and his wife Fanny née Willmer. In 1865 he stood unsucce ...

in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

for the Parish of St Luke's and which had been found to be structurally unsound. The oldest part of the current complex is the vestry hall in Chelsea Manor Gardens, which was designed by John McKean Brydon in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

and built by a local builder, Charles Wall; it was officially opened on 12 January 1887. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto Chelsea Manor Gardens; the central section of three bays featured three windows above which there was a large

Venetian window A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian a ...

flanked by huge

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 ...

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s supporting 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 ...

. 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 ...

with a dome and

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

was erected at roof level. This building became the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea The Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea was a metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1900 and 1965. It was created by the London Government Act 1899 from most of the ancient parish of Chelsea. It was amalgamated in 1965 under the Lond ...

on its formation in 1900. Internally, the main rooms were the main hall, which was particularly ornate, a smaller hall and the Cadogan Suite, the latter two being located in side wings off the main hall. After civic leaders found that Pocock's vestry hall was structurally unsound, they elected to demolish it and construct a new structure to the designs of

Leonard Stokes Leonard Aloysius Scott Stokes (1858 – 25 December 1925) was an English architect and artist. Leonard Stokes was born in Southport (then in Lancashire) in 1858 the son of Scott Nasmyth Stokes, a school inspector. He trained in London and tra ...

in the neoclassical style on the King's Road site. The works were carried out by A.N. Coles of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

at a cost of £35,000 and completed in 1907. The design for this frontage involved 15 bays with two sections at either end with doorways with

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...

s flanked by windows and by full-height Ionic order columns supporting pediments; the two end-sections also had windows on the first floor. The frontage also had a clock which projected over the street and central

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

. The complex ceased to be the local seat of government when the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...

was formed in 1965. However the Brydon building became the main

Kensington and Chelsea Register Office Kensington and Chelsea Register Office is an office for the registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships located in Chelsea Old Town Hall in Chelsea, London. It has hosted the weddings of many notable people. According to ''T ...

and subsequently hosted several famous weddings including the marriage of

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

Mickey Deans Michael DeVinko, Jr. (September 24, 1934 – July 11, 2003), known as Mickey Deans, was an American musician and entrepreneur, and the fifth husband and widower of actress and singer Judy Garland. Early life Born Michael DeVinko in Garfield, Ne ...

in March 1969. After being refurbished by Roderick Ham & Partners, the Stokes extension became the main Chelsea branch library in 1978. The Chelsea Art Society also decided to establish its home in the Stokes extension in 1994 and it began to hold a series of annual exhibitions there showing work by both professional and non-professional artists. An internal refurbishment of the rooms in the Brydon building was completed by Ark Build in February 2019.

References

{{reflist Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1887 Grade II* listed government buildings King's Road, Chelsea, London