Mold Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Yr Wyddgrug) is a municipal structure in Earl Road in

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

, Wales. The town hall, which serves as the meeting place of Mold Town Council, 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 first municipal building in Mold was the Leete Hall which was built on the corner of the High Street and New Street and was completed in 1470. After the Leete Hall became dilapidated, it was demolished and replaced by the Assembly Rooms which were designed by Alfred Lockwood 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 ...

and completed in 1849. The Assembly Rooms were arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held with a large assembly hall on the first floor: a third floor was added in 1874, shortly before the building was acquired by 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 ...

in 1882. Following significant population growth, largely associated with Mold's status as a market town, the area became an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

in 1895. In this context, a local businessman who had made his money manufacturing rubber heals, Peter Edward Roberts of Bromfield Hall, offered to contribute £5,000 towards the cost of a purpose-built town hall. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the benefactor's wife, Mary Roberts, on 22 June 1911. It was designed by Frederick Andrew Roberts in the Edwardian Baroque style, built in red brick with stone facings and was officially opened on 1 October 1912. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Earl Road; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a recessed doorway with a keystone flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s supporting an open triangular

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 ...

. There was a stone balcony and a round headed French door on the first floor flanked by

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

columns and banded pilasters supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

. The outer bays were fenestrated by segmental

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 ground floor and round headed windows on the first floor. At roof level, there was a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

, a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

, a central segmental pediment and a square

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

with

aedicula In ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (plural ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns and typically framing a statue,"aedicula, n." ...

e and a

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

on a

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexa ...

al base. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber, the lecture hall, the free library and the reading room. The local

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

James Woolley Summers James Woolley Summers (24 March 1849 – 1 January 1913) was a British Liberal Party politician. Background He was born in Dukinfield, Lancashire on 24 March 1849, the son of John Summers of Sunnyside, Ashton-under-Lyne. He married in 1883, Edi ...

, donated £100 to establish an initial collection of books for the library. In 1924, the council discovered that the new town hall had already suffered some structural damage caused by subsidence associated with local coal mining. The building served as the headquarters of the Mold Urban District Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be local seat of government when the enlarged Delyn District Council was formed in

Holywell Holywell may refer to: * Holywell, Flintshire, Wales * Holywell, Swords, Ireland * Holywell, Bedfordshire, England * Holywell, Cambridgeshire, England * Holywell, Cornwall, England * Holywell, Dorset, England * Holywell, Eastbourne, East Susse ...

in 1974. The town hall subsequently became the offices and meeting place of Mold Town Council. A public square created just to southwest of the town hall to commemorate the life of the

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Daniel Owen Daniel Owen (20 October 1836 – 22 October 1895) was a Welsh novelist. He is generally regarded as the foremost Welsh-language novelist of the 19th century, and as the first significant novelist to write in Welsh. Early life Daniel Owen was bor ...

, was re-opened, following a major-revamp, in October 2015.

Notes

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1912 City and town halls in Wales Mold, Flintshire Grade II listed buildings in Flintshire Government buildings with domes