Haringey Civic Centre is a municipal building in High Road,

Wood Green Wood Green is a suburban district in the borough of Haringey in London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater London, and today it forms a maj ...

, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of

Haringey London Borough Council Haringey London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Haringey in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. As of 2022, Haringey is divided into 21 wards, ...

, 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 building was commissioned by the

Municipal Borough of Wood Green Wood Green was a local government district in south east Middlesex from 1888 to 1965. History Until 1888, Wood Green was part of Tottenham, and was included in the district of the Tottenham Local Board in 1850. Pressure from residents of the are ...

to replace the ageing Wood Green Town Hall in High Road. After the old town hall had become inadequate for the council's needs, civic leaders decided to build a new town hall: the site selected for the new building, which was further south on High Road, had previously been occupied by some 19th residential properties known as the Fishmongers' and Poulterers' Almshouses. Construction work on the building, which was undertaken by Gee, Walker & Slater, started in 1956. The new building was designed by Sir John Brown, A E Henson and Partners and was officially opened by the 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 ...

Joyce Butler Joyce Shore Butler (née Wells; 13 December 1910 – 2 January 1992) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. She was the long serving MP for Wood Green and was the first woman to chair an ad hoc committee. Early life Butler was educa ...

, as Wood Green Civic Centre on 15 March 1958. The design, which was influenced by

Aarhus City Hall Aarhus City Hall is the city hall of Aarhus, Denmark. The decision to build a new city hall was taken during a city hall meeting in 1937. The new building was inaugurated 2 June 1941, designed by architects Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller. On the fi ...

and Søllerød Town Hall, both in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, envisaged a public area in the southern part of the building and workspace for council officers and their departments in the northern part of the building. It involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto High Road; the southern section featured a large projecting glass frontage with a doorway on the ground floor while the northern section of the frontage comprised nine bays with windows on each of the ground, first and second floors. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber behind the glass frontage on the first floor and the mayor's parlour in the west wing of the building. The council chamber was designed with an unusual suspended ceiling which sloped down to the back of

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in the Random House Dictionary< ...

on which the mayor sat. An underground nuclear fall-out shelter was established in the basement but a public hall, which had been intended for the site, was never built. The building continued to be the local seat of government, as Haringey Civic Centre, when the enlarged

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of t ...

was formed in 1965. A

Citizens Advice Bureau Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...

was established in the building in 1975; although now known as Citizens Advice Haringey, it continues to operate from the centre. Many of the council officers and their departments moved to River Park House further south on High Road in 2005. In 2017 the civic centre, much of which is now unused, was the subject of a consultation on regeneration options including possible replacement, but after

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 ...

listed the building in July 2018, the regeneration options became more restricted. English Heritage praised its "Scandinavian influence, transparency and modernity."

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Haringey City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1958 Grade II listed government buildings