Chiswick Town Hall stands on Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, facing

Turnham Green Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Little S ...

. It is a Grade II listed building.

History

In the mid 19th century St Nicholas Parish Council had met in a variety of different locations including, latterly, the Boys' National School at Turnham Green. After parish leaders found that this arrangement was inadequate for their needs, they elected to construct a purpose-built vestry hall: a site on Turnham Green, which had previously been open land, was purchased for the benefit of the parish in 1874.Draper, Warwick: ''Chiswick''. Published by Anne Bingley in association with Hounslow Leisure Services, 1990, pages 173 and 176. The new building was designed by William Joshua Trehearne 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 ...

and opened in 1876. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Heathfield Terrace; the central section featured a

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flanked by Corinthian order columns on the ground floor; there were three round arched windows on the first floor 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 pedim ...

above. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber on the first floor. After the area became an

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in 1896, civic leaders decided that it would be necessary to extend the building. They launched a fund raising campaign to establish a lasting memorial to celebrate

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; at least part of the fund, to which the Duke of Devonshire had been a significant donor, was used to finance the extension. The extension was designed by the council surveyor, Arthur Ramsden, with three extra bays to the east on Heathfield Terrace and an extra nine bays along Sutton Court Road; the principal rooms in the extension were the main assembly hall, initially known as the Devonshire Hall, and a large reception room, which became known as the Hogarth Hall. The enlarged complex re-opened as Chiswick Town Hall in February 1901. In December 1901, a bust of the local painter,

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like ...

, which had been commissioned by the philanthropist,

John Passmore Edwards John Passmore Edwards M.P. (24 March 1823 – 22 April 1911) ODNB article by A. J. A. Morris, 'Edwards, John Passmore (1823–1911)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 200 accessed 15 ...

, was unveiled by the painter, Sir William Richmond, in the newly named Hogarth Room. The building became the town hall of the merged

Municipal Borough of Brentford and Chiswick Brentford and Chiswick was a local government district of Middlesex, England from 1927 to 1965. History It was created an urban district in 1927 by a merger of the former area of the Brentford Urban District and the Chiswick Urban District. It ...

in 1927 but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow () is a London borough in West London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils (forming part of the former Middlesex County Council area) amalgamated under ...

was formed in 1965. It was subsequently used as a local register office until Feltham Lodge became the main register office for London Borough of Hounslow and it still remains an approved venue for marriage and civil partnership ceremonies. A

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was also established in the building. A programme of restoration works was carried out by T&B Contractors to plans by A3 Architects in 2010.

References

{{Chiswick Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Hounslow Government buildings completed in 1901 City and town halls in London Chiswick Buildings and structures in Chiswick