There are two buildings, in the now abolished Marrickville Council area, which have held the title Marrickville Town Hall. The original town hall, is a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

building located at 96-106 Illawarra Road, , an inner western suburb of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The building was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. In 1922, the original building was replaced by the present Marrickville Town Hall, located at 303 Marrickville Road, Marrickville.

History

Original building

The town hall at 96-106 Illawarra Road was opened in 1879. In 1883 a two-storey addition was added, together with a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

and steps with a lion couchant on either side. The last meeting in the old building was held on 30 January 1922, on completion of the new Town Hall. The old building was then purchased by the Department of Education in May 1922. It formed part of Marrickville Public School, until 1985. In 1988 the school site was purchased by the Department of Housing and subdivided. The land adjoining the town hall was developed for pensioner housing.

Heritage listing

The Illawarra Road building is the oldest civil building in Marrickville and the fourth oldest Town Hall in

. It is important for its association with the development and rise of local government in Sydney. It provides an important physical record of the early history of the municipality from its origins as a small village. It demonstrates the early pattern of Australian local politics. Completed 1879 the 2nd storey extension of 1883 incorporated the existing building into a landmark of great aesthetic value. The Building was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

New building

The foundation stone for the building at 303 Marrickville Road, Marrickville was laid in 1921. The building was officially opened on 11 February 1922.Sydney Morning Herald, 5 Jan 1922, page 10. Accessed 29 Jan 1922
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Nike sculptures

573 - Marrickville Town Hall (former) (5045101b1)

''Winged Victory'', a sculpture of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, was unveiled outside the site of the future town hall in 1919 before a crowd of approximately 15,000. The sculpture was commissioned to represent a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

to the 450 residents who died in combat during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Over the years the sculpture deteriorated and it was removed in 2009. In April 2015 a modern, more peaceful interpretation, being a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

statute of Nike was unveiled.

References

Attribution

External links

Marrickville Town Hall Wurlitzer Organ
Accessed 29 January 2022
Virtual tour of Marrickville Town Hall
Accessed 29 January 2022 Town halls in Sydney Government buildings completed in 1879 Victorian architecture in Sydney New South Wales State Heritage Register 1879 establishments in Australia Marrickville, New South Wales Edmund Blacket buildings in Sydney {{NewSouthWales-struct-stub