Dudley Council House is a municipal building in Priory Road,

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, England. The Council House, which is the meeting place of

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC. The present authority was formed as a result of further reorganisation of local government ...

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 first town hall in Dudley was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

structure in the Market Place completed in 1653. It was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor and 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 clock at roof level. It was demolished in 1860 and replaced with a fountain in 1867. The second town hall was built in Priory Road in the 1860s, but after the town became a

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

in 1889 and following further industrial growth in the early 20th century, civic leaders decided to procure a more substantial structure on the same site and the second town hall was demolished to make way for the current structure in 1924. The first part of new complex was the assembly hall in St James's Road which became known as Dudley Town Hall. It was built with financial support from a legacy left by the former local

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Brooke Robinson Brooke Robinson (1836–1911) was a British Conservative Party politician, who was MP for Dudley and held a number of public posts including that of County Coroner for Dudley. He also was an art collector and benefactor whose legacy was the Town ...

, and his wife, Eugenia, and included several courtrooms, a museum and a memorial tower. The memorial tower was intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. This part of the complex was designed by Harvey and Wicks in the Neo-Georgian style, built with red brick and stone dressings and was officially opened by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...

, on 20 October 1928. The design involved a near-symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto St James's Road; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured three arches with

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

gates on the ground floor and a balcony and a stained glass

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

window with the town's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

in the tympanum in the central bay on the first floor. There were also stained glass mullion windows in the other bays on the first floor. The design is thought by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

to be based on the

Doge's Palace The Doge's Palace ( it, Palazzo Ducale; vec, Pałaso Dogal) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme auth ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. The second part of the new complex was the council house in Priory Road. It was built with financial support from

Earl of Dudley Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford (now the West Midlands), is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family. History Dudley was first used for a pe ...

, who laid the foundation stone in June 1934. It was designed by the same architect in a similar style, built with similar materials and was officially opened by the

Duke of Kent Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of peerage of Great Britain, Great Britain and the peerage of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, most recently as a Royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom, royal dukedom ...

in December 1935. The design involved a near-symmetrical main frontage with 22 bays facing onto Priory Road; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured three arches on the ground floor and a balcony and a stained glass mullion window with the town's coat of arms in the tympanum in the central bay on the first floor. There were also balconies and stained glass mullion windows in the other bays on the first floor. The old police station in Priory Street, which had been designed by Harvey Eginton and completed in 1847, was vacated when the local police service moved to a new building on New Street in 1939, and subsequently converted into additional municipal offices.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

, visited the council house and had lunch with civic leaders on 23 April 1957. The council house continued to serve as the headquarters of the local municipal borough council and remained the local seat of government when the enlarged

was formed in 1974. The assembly hall was renamed Dudley Concert Hall in 2004 but, after it was found that the new name had never really caught on, councillors decided to revert to the name Dudley Town Hall in 2012. An extensive programme of refurbishment works to the council house costing £4 million was approved by the council in February 2020.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1935 City and town halls in the West Midlands (county) Buildings and structures in Dudley Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)