Gosport Town Hall is a municipal structure in the High Street,

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. The structure currently serves as the headquarters of

Gosport Borough Council Gosport Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Gosport, in the county of Hampshire, England. The council consists of 28 councillors, two or three for each of the 14 wards in the town. It is currently controlled by the Liberal D ...

History

The first municipal building was an ancient market hall and courthouse in the Middle Row which, in its original form, was a gift from the Bishop of Winchester, Henry of Blois, in the 12th century. By the early 19th century the building in the Middle Row, which was in the centre of the High Street, was considered an obstruction of traffic and a local businessman, Robert Cruickshank, led an initiative to demolish the old building and to erect a new building at the shore end of the High Street. The new town hall and market house was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the 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 prevailing sty ...

, built in brick with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone dressings at a cost £15,000 and was completed in 1812. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing The Hard. There were three openings on the ground floor flanked by

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

columns supporting a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

, and there were five

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s on the first floor flanked by

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 ...

with an

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

in the tympanum. The market house was hit by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

bombing and reduced to a shell during the

Portsmouth Blitz Portsmouth is an island port city situated on Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire, England. Its history has been influenced by its association with the sea, and its proximity to London, and mainland Europe. Roman Portus Adurni which l ...

in August 1940. However, the Dive Café, in the basement of the market house, remained a popular venue into the 1950s. The Mayor's Car outside Gosport Town Hall - geograph

The Mayor's Car outside Gosport Town Hall - geograph

In the early 1960s, civic leaders decided to demolish the remains of the market house and to erect a new town hall on the south side of the High Street. The new building was designed by W. H. Saunders & Son in the International Style, built in concrete and glass and was completed in 1964. The design involved a rectangular five-storey main frontage with a pair of two-storey wings jutting out towards the High Street to form a courtyard. The main structure was faced with curtain walling and was supplemented by a curved formation containing the council chamber, which was

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

ed out to the west and allowed vehicular access at ground floor level. Works of art in the town hall include a painting by the local artist, Martin Snape, depicting Forton Creek.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1964 City and town halls in Hampshire Gosport