County Hall is a municipal facility at Galgorm Road in Ballymena,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It served as the headquarters of Antrim County Council from 1970 to 1973.

History

During the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, meetings of Antrim County Council were held at the

Crumlin Road Courthouse The Crumlin Road Courthouse is a former judicial facility on Crumlin Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a Grade B+ listed building. History The building, which was designed by Charles Lanyon in the Neoclassical style, was completed in 185 ...

. In the 1960s, county leaders decided that the courthouse was too cramped to accommodate the county council in the context of the county council's increasing administrative responsibilities, especially while the courthouse was still acting as a facility for dispensing justice, and therefore chose to acquire additional premises on a site in the north east corner of the

Galgorm Castle 'Galgorm' is a townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, about 1 km west of Ballymena. It is part of the civil parish of Ahoghill. Administratively, it is in the Borough of Ballymena. The townland encompasses the village of Galgorm an ...

estate. The new building, which was designed by Burman Goodall & Partners in the

modern style The Modern Style is a style of architecture, art, and design that first emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1880s. It is the first Art Nouveau style worldwide, and it represents the evolution of the Arts and Crafts movement which was native ...

, was completed in 1970. The design for the five-storey building involved continuous bands of glazing with red brick above and below; the main assembly hall in the building was named as the Chichester Hall. It was called after Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Chichester, who was

Clerk of the Parliaments The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The position has existed since at least 1315, and duties include preparing the minutes of Lords proceedings, advising on proper parlia ...

for Northern Ireland and lived at Galgorm Castle until his death in 1972. The building was badly damaged in a car bomb attack by the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

on 7 October 1972. After the county council was abolished in 1973, the building became the regional office of several government departments, including the Northern Health and Social Services Board from 1974 to 1987 and, since then, the Northern Offices of the

Health and Social Care Board The Health and Social Care Board is an organisation responsible for the commissioning of health services for the people of Northern Ireland. Its current chief executive is Ms. Valerie Watts. Creation The Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Nor ...

and the Public Health Agency. Approximately 160 civil servants were still employed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in the building as at 1 January 2014. Concerns were expressed by a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

in December 2015 about the long-term economic viability of the building following announcements about the departure of both the Car Tax office and also the Education Authority from the building.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in County Antrim Ballymena Government buildings completed in 1970