Hendon Town hall is a municipal building in

the Burroughs Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Gre ...

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

, London. The town hall, which serves as a meeting place for

Barnet London Borough Council Barnet London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 within London. Barnet is divided into 21 wards, each electing three councillors. The counc ...

, 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

In the late 19th century 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 ...

had held its meetings at the Hendon Union Workhouse in

. After the formation of Hendon Urban District in 1896, civic leaders decided this arrangement was inadequate for their needs and decided to procure purpose-built municipal buildings: the site selected for the new facility in the Burroughs had previously been part of the Grove House estate. The foundation stone for the new municipal buildings was laid the chairman of the council, John Evans, in 1900. The new building, which was designed by Thomas Henry Watson in the Pre-Renaissance style and was built by Kingerlee and Sons, was officially opened by the then chairman of the council, F.W. Roper, on 13 November 1901. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Burroughs; the central section featured a

porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...

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 on the ground floor; there were three

mullion window 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 ...

s flanked by

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...

s on the first floor; on the roof a timber

lantern A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to carry and h ...

with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

was erected. The principal room was the council chamber on the first floor. After the area was given

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 ...

status as the

Municipal Borough of Hendon Hendon was an ancient civil parish of around which included Mill Hill on the border of Hertfordshire, as well as Golders Green and Childs Hill on the border of what became the County of London. In 1894 it was created an urban district of Middl ...

, the building became known as "Hendon Town Hall" in 1932. It continued to be the local seat of government after the borough was merged with the

Municipal Borough of Finchley Finchley, which is now in north London, was a local government district in Middlesex, England, from 1878 to 1965. Finchley Local Board first met in 1878. It became Finchley District Council in 1895 and the Municipal Borough of Finchley in 1933. In ...

and several urban districts to form the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

in 1965.

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

made her first speech as

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 ...

at the town hall in May 1979 and she returned to unveil a statue entitled the ''Family of Man'' by Itzhak Ofer in 1981. Finchley had never had its own town hall and Hendon Town Hall was sometimes, incorrectly, referred to by members of the press as "Finchley Town Hall" in the 1980s. Barnet Trades Union Council, which had been dissolved during the

deindustrialisation Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpre ...

of the early 1990s, was reformed at the town hall in 2008. The Barnet register office, which had been based at

Burnt Oak Burnt Oak is a suburb of London, England, located northwest of Charing Cross. It lies to the west of the M1 motorway between Edgware and Colindale, located predominantly in the London Borough of Barnet, with parts comprising the London Boroughs ...

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

, moved to the town hall in February 2017. Many of the other council officers and their departments, who had previously been located at disparate locations around the council area, moved to Barnet House in

Colindale Colindale is a district in the London Borough of Barnet; its main shopping street on the A5 forming the borough boundary with neighbouring Brent. Colindale is a suburban area, and in recent years has had many new apartments built. It's also th ...

, just over a mile to the west of the town hall, in 2018. However, meetings of the full council have continued to be held at Hendon Town Hall.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1901 City and town halls in London Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Barnet Grade II listed government buildings