The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in Yorkshire Street,

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

, England. 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, which was designed by George Woodhouse in the Greek revival style, was completed in 1841 and extended in 1880. It has a tetrastyle Ionic portico, copied from the temple of

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

, on the River Ilisos, near

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. A blue plaque on the exterior of the building commemorates

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

making his inaugural acceptance speech from the steps of the town hall when he was first elected as a Conservative MP in 1900. The building became the headquarters of the Municipal Borough of Oldham in 1849 and the headquarters of the

County Borough of Oldham Oldham was, from 1849 to 1974, a local government district in the northwest of England coterminous with the town of Oldham. History Improvement Commissioners Oldham was anciently a township in the large ecclesiastical parish of Prestwich-cum-O ...

in 1889. Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Oldham and inspected a guard of honour outside the town hall in October 1954. The town hall became the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham, The borough had a population of 237,628 making it the seventh-largest district by population ...

in 1974 but, after the council moved to

Oldham Civic Centre Oldham Civic Centre is a municipal building in West Street, Oldham, England. History The low-level western section of the Civic Centre was originally built as offices for the housing and social services departments as well as the Regional Healt ...

in 1977, the building stood empty for many years. In October 2009

the Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registere ...

declared the Town Hall as the most endangered Victorian structure in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

. Proposals were sought for the redevelopment of the building and, following works undertaken by

Morgan Sindall Morgan Sindall Group plc is a leading British Construction & Regeneration group, headquartered in London employing around 6,700 employees and operating in the public, regulated and private sectors. It reports through six divisions of Constructio ...

to a design by the

Building Design Partnership Building Design Partnership Ltd, doing business as BDP, is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 900 staff in the United Kingdom and internationally. History BDP was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell-Baines with architects Bill White ...

, it re-opened as a modern multiplex

Odeon cinema Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name ...

in 2016. After a fund-raising campaign supported by the locally-born actress,

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004–2007), Mart ...

, a bronze statue of the local suffragette,

Annie Kenney Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...

, funded by public subscription, was unveiled outside the building in December 2018.

References

{{Buildings and structures in Oldham City and town halls in Greater Manchester Grade II listed buildings in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Government buildings completed in 1841 Buildings and structures in Oldham

History

See also

References