Margate Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place,

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. The complex, which was the headquarters of Margate Borough Council, consists of the two distinct buildings connected by a bridge: it is Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

History

1898 municipal building plaque Market Place Margate Kent England

After a charter was granted giving permission to hold markets in the town in 1777, an existing building owned by the Cobb family in an area known as the Bowling Green was converted for use as a town hall in 1787. At the same time a new lock-up was built to the north of the town hall. After the original town hall became dilapidated, a new town hall, funded by

public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...

, was built on the same site and completed in 1820. The town became 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 1857, and following further population growth, largely associated with seaside tourism, the borough council decided to commission new municipal offices on the same site in the 1890s: this became possible because of a gift from Martha Hannah Kendal, widow of a former local corn merchant, Alderman Daniel Kendal. The new building was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, 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 pr ...

, built with brick rendered with cement and completed in 1898. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with four bays facing onto the southern edge of the Market Square; the ground floor was arcaded so that markets could be held and featured a cast iron

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

which originally extended the full width of the building. There were

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 with a large

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 ...

above and, at roof level, there was clock with a

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 ...

above. Internally, the principal parts of the building were the courtroom, which was also used as a council chamber, on the first floor and the police station on the ground floor. The police moved out of the complex to a new police station at Fort Hill in 1959. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Margate Borough Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged

Thanet District Council Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College * Thanet Cana ...

established its offices in Cecil Street shortly after it was formed in 1974. The first floor of the front part of the complex subsequently became the home of the mayor and the charter trustees. The rear part of the complex was converted for community use and re-opened as the Margate Museum in 1987. The museum's initial exhibits included a collection of maps and local historical documents collected by Dr Arthur Rowe, which had been left to Margate Corporation when he died in 1926, as well as a series of paintings known as the Parker Collection which was purchased by Margate Corporation in 1929. The East Kent Maritime Trust took over management of the museum in 1994 and, after a brief closure from 2008 to 2010, it reopened under the management of a team of volunteers. In September 2018, the council considered a proposal to let out the ground floor of the front part of the complex for commercial use.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1898 City and town halls in Kent Margate Grade II listed buildings in Kent