Harrow Civic Centre is a municipal building in Station Road, Harrow, London. It is the headquarters of

Harrow London Borough Council Harrow London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. It is currently controlled by the Conservative ...

History

Harrow on the Hill, The Old Fire Station and Local Board Office - geograph

The

local board of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

for Harrow on the Hill was initially based at 49 High Street and then, from 1888, at 90 High Street. Following a significant increase in population, largely associated with the growing importance of the area as a residential suburb of London, the area became an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

in 1894. After the district was enlarged by the inclusion of the former

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

urban district in 1934, the new council established itself at the old 19th century Wealdstone council offices in Peel Road in Wealdstone. Following an increase in its responsibilities, having become a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1954 and a

London borough The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...

in 1965, the council sought larger premises and moved to a private residence known as Harrow Weald Lodge. After this arrangement became inadequate for their needs, civic leaders decided to procure a purpose-built civic centre: the site selected in Station Road had previously been occupied by a primary school and a builder's yard. Construction on the new building, which was undertaken by F.G. Minter, began on 2 July 1970. The new building was designed by Eric G. Broughton and was officially opened by the mayor, Alderman Henry Gange, on 6 May 1973. The design involved a six-storey square concrete-framed structure with 30 bays on each side; the bays contained a window on each floor flanked by concrete slabs; there was a landscaped courtyard in the centre of the building. The council chamber was contained in an entirely separate structure built to the north east of the main building; it was connected to the main building by a bridge structure containing a large glass decorative screen made by Whitefriars Glass. The "Kodak Mural", a composite creation of nearly 1,000 tiles bearing Harrow-related photographs, which was designed by

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...

and made by Kenneth Clark Ceramics, was installed on the first floor landing in 1974. In April 2004, Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the civic centre as part of the celebrations in respect of the 50th anniversary of the borough's

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

. In October 2014, as part of its regeneration strategy, the council announced proposals to move its headquarters to a more modern facility in

and to release the civic centre site for residential use. However, in March 2019, it indicated that there would be delays and, in July 2019, the council decided to find a regeneration partner to help to expedite the development. In September 2020, the council indicated that it had identified that partner although the name of the partner was not revealed.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Harrow City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1973