Islington Town Hall is a municipal facility in Upper Street, Islington, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters for

Islington London Borough Council Islington London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Islington in Greater London, England. The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced two local authorities: Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Co ...

, 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 Ir ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace the ageing mid-19th century

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

hall on Upper Street which had been used by the Parish of St Mary's, Islington. The vestry hall had become the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Borough of Islington Islington was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish within the county of Middlesex, and formed part of The Metropolis from 1855. The parish was transferred to the County of London in 1889 and became ...

in 1900. After the vestry hall had become inadequate for the council's needs, civic leaders decided to procure a new town hall; they purchased a site with a row of Georgian era terraced houses known as Tyndale Place for this purpose in 1920. The new building was designed by Edward Charles Philip Monson 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 ...

and built in three stages: first the rear wing facing Richmond Grove in 1922, second the northern part in Upper Street in 1925 and third the

assembly hall An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the st ...

in 1929. The complex was officially opened by the mayor, Alderman William Manchester, on 15 March 1930. The design for the northern section involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Upper Street; it featured a stone porch with the borough

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

above flanked by full-height windows and Corinthian order

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s to either side; there was also a window in a similar style on the first floor above the doorway. The principal rooms were the mayor's parlour, which was in the rear wing facing Richmond Grove, and the council chamber, which was in the northern part in Upper Street. Pevsner was impressed by the "lavish marble imperial stair to the octagonal council chamber". Since 1930, when Arsenal won their first

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, victory receptions have been held at the town hall. Queen Elizabeth II visited the town hall and met with civic leaders to mark her coronation in 1953. The building served as the town hall of the

and continued to serve as the local seat of government after

was formed in 1965. However, the council moved many of its officers and their departments to new municipal offices designed by T P Bennett on the opposite side of Upper Street in 1983. Other developments in the 1980s included an underground bunker constructed for protection against nuclear attack. Islington Museum, which had previously been based in the town hall, moved out of the building in preparation for its move to Finsbury Library in December 2006. The town hall hosted a high-profile reception, attended by the

Duchess of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male de ...

, to promote Chance UK's early intervention child mentoring program in October 2015.

References

External link

{{Commonscatinline Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Islington City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1925 Grade II listed government buildings Buildings and structures in Islington