Marylebone Town Hall, also known as the Westminster Council House, is a municipal building on

Marylebone Road Marylebone Road ( ) is an important thoroughfare in central London, within the City of Westminster. It runs east–west from the Euston Road at Regent's Park to the A40 Westway at Paddington. The road which runs in three lanes in both direction ...

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

, London. The complex includes the council chamber, the Westminster Register Office and an educational facility known as the Sammy Ofer Centre. It 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

The building was commissioned to replace the old courthouse at the south end of Marylebone Lane which dated back in part to the 18th century. After the area became a

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan ...

in 1900, civic leaders decided that the old courthouse was inadequate for their needs and decided to procure a new town hall: the site selected for the new facility in Marylebone Road had been occupied by a row of residential properties. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a substantive title, style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a United Kingdom, British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of th ...

on 8 July 1914. The new building was designed by Sir Edwin Cooper in the

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

Graeco-Roman classicist style and built by Messrs John Greenwood. After a pause in construction caused by the

First World War 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 ...

, it was officially opened by Prince Albert on 27 March 1920. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with 13 bays facing onto Marylebone Road; the central section of five bays featured a two-storey

tetrastyle 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 ...

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 ...

with full height

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns; the doorway was flanked by windows on the ground floor; there were further windows on the first floor and smaller windows on the second floor; a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

d tower was erected on the roof. A public library, which was also designed by Cooper, was built to the west of the town hall in 1939. The council chamber was badly damaged by bombing during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The town hall, which had served as the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone The Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone was a metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough of the County of London from 1900 to 1965. It was based directly on the previously existing civil parishes in England, civil par ...

for much of the 20th century, ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

was formed in 1965. The damaged council chamber was restored, to a design by T. P. Bennett and Sons, in 1968 to allow it to continue to be used as a meeting place by

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

. The building, which continued to accommodate the Westminster Register Office, hosted the marriage of

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...

Bobby Willis Robert Willis (25 January 1942 – 23 October 1999) was an English songwriter and talent manager who became the manager and eventually husband of singer Cilla Black. Career His first known recorded composition, "Shy of Love" was featured on th ...

in January 1969,

Sir Paul McCartney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Linda Eastman Linda Anne Eastman (July 7, 1867 – April 5, 1963) was an American librarian. She was selected by the American Library Association (ALA) as one of the 100 most important librarians of the 20th century. Eastman served as the head Librarian of ...

in March 1969 and

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

Barbara Bach Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey (born Barbara Goldbach in 1947) is an American actress and model. She played the Bond girl Anya Amasova in ''The Spy Who Loved Me''. She is married to former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. Early life Bach is a nati ...

in April 1981 as well as that of

Melanie Griffith Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s. Born in Manhattan, New York City, ...

Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...

in May 1996 and

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...

Patsy Kensit Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s. Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bird ...

in April 1997. Since the turn of the millennium, it has been the venue of the marriage of

Claudia Winkleman Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman (born 15 January 1972) is an English television presenter, radio personality, film critic and journalist. Between 2004 and 2010, she presented '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two'' on weeknights on BBC Two. Since ...

to Kris Thykier in June 2000, Liam Gallagher to

Nicole Appleton Nicole Marie Appleton (born 7 December 1974) is a Canadian singer and television presenter. She is a member of the British girl group All Saints and Canadian duo Appleton with her elder sister Natalie Appleton. Early life Appleton was born ...

in February 2008 and

Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...

to Georgina Sutcliffe also in February 2008 as well as that of Sir Paul McCartney to

Nancy Shevell The relationships of the English musician Paul McCartney include engagements to Dot Rhone and actress Jane Asher, and marriages to Linda Eastman, Heather Mills, and Nancy Shevell. McCartney had a three-year relationship with Dot Rhone in Liver ...

in October 2011. The

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

acquired the town hall in November 2012 and, with financial support from the

Ofer family Ofer (, ''lit.'' Fawn) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The moshav was founded in 1950 by immigrants from India (main ...

, spent £60 million on refurbishing and improving it. The improvements, which were designed by

Sheppard Robson Sheppard Robson (previously Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners ) is a British architecture firm, founded in 1938 by Sir Richard Herbert Sheppard, with offices in London, Manchester, and Glasgow]. It was particularly influential in the 1950s– ...

, included a new glass and steel link structure between the town hall and the library allowing access to the new education facility known as the "Sammy Ofer Centre". The improvements also allowed continued access to the council chamber and the Westminster Register Office using the civic steps. The facility re-opened again in January 2018.

References

{{reflist

External links

Old Marylebone Town Hall
Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1920 Grade II listed government buildings Buildings and structures in Marylebone