Old Newmarket Town Hall and Courthouse is a historic structure in

Newmarket, Ontario Newmarket ( 2021 population: 87,942) is a town and regional seat of the Regional Municipality of York in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is part of Greater Toronto in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The name stems from the ...

and served as town hall, county offices and courthouse.

Architecture

The structure was designed in the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

style by the architectural firm of Mallory & Sons, in accordance with then-Mayor William Cane's desire for a modern building.

Town hall and county office

The building was inaugurated on

Dominion Day Dominion Day was a day commemorating the granting of certain countries Dominion status — that is, "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external ...

, July 1, 1883, as town hall for

. It assumed the role as York County offices moved from

Toronto City Hall The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in ...

in 1953 when

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

was formed and until

York Region The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...

was formed in 1971. Reverting the original role, it was replaced when the town offices moved out in 1975. Some Regional offices relocated to the York Region Administration Centre at 62 Bayview Parkway in 1957.

Courthouse and community use

From 1975 to 1980 it was used as municipal courthouse while a new courthouse was being built at 50 Eagle Street. After the 1980s the building became a cultural and social venue. The building has undergone renovations in the late 1970s and again in 2011. Scheduled to re-open in the autumn of 2015, the Old Town Hall will function as a cultural hub for theatre, music, dance and other cultural activities; construction includes renovations to the second floor theatre and conversion of the building to make it fully accessible. The building has been protected as a heritage property since 1999.

Renovations

Since 2012, Newmarket's Old Town Hall had undergone substantial renovations to achieve architectural renaissance. A new atrium extension was added to the south side of the building representing the blending of the old and the new. Renovations and improvements were made throughout the building to make it fully accessible and ensure it functions as a culture hub for theatre, music, dance, arts and cultural activities and numerous opportunities for continued economic The restoration of Old Town Hall is part of a joint project with the Federal and Provincial government in which the Town of Newmarket received approximately $3.4 million in funding. As a key driver of the Town's Cultural Master Plan, this landmark will act as a hub for arts and culture and will play a key role in the revitalization of Newmarket's Historic Main Street area.

References

{{coord, 44.0527, N, 79.4578, W, display=title City and town halls in Ontario Former seats of local government Former courthouses in Canada Buildings and structures in Newmarket, Ontario Government buildings completed in 1883 Italianate architecture in Canada