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The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street,
A market place was established in the old town under a charter awarded by Henry VIII in 1539. By the early 19th century the market hall took the form of a long range of corn lofts, which stood on pillars, so that markets could be held underneath. A courtroom was established at the north end and a town hall was erected at the centre of the structure in 1825.
After the market hall became dilapidated, civic leaders decided to demolish the old building in sections: the central and north sections of the old structure were demolished in 1851. The new building (the central section of the current structure) was designed by George Low in the
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500.
Developed after the Second World War as a new ...
, Hertfordshire, England. The town hall, which was the meeting place of Hemel Hempstead Borough 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
A market place was established in the old town under a charter awarded by Henry VIII in 1539. By the early 19th century the market hall took the form of a long range of corn lofts, which stood on pillars, so that markets could be held underneath. A courtroom was established at the north end and a town hall was erected at the centre of the structure in 1825.
After the market hall became dilapidated, civic leaders decided to demolish the old building in sections: the central and north sections of the old structure were demolished in 1851. The new building (the central section of the current structure) was designed by George Low in the Jacobean style
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign ther ...
, built with red brick and stone dressings and completed later that year. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the High Street; the middle bay featured a portico with Corinthian order columns supporting a balcony
A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor.
Types
The traditional Maltese balcony ...
and a bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room.
Types
Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or ...
on the first floor with a gable above.
The new building was extended to the north along the High Street, with arcading on the ground floor, to create a corn exchange in 1861. The remaining (southern) section of the old structure was demolished and the new building was extended to the south along the High Street, with a four-stage tower which included an octagonal upper stage, to create municipal offices in 1868.
Following the acquisition of part of the St Mary's Churchyard, the market place was extended in 1888. This was recorded by a stone plaque on the front of the building, which stated "Bailiwick of Hemel Hempstead: this market place was formed and these buildings erected by the Bailiff and the Town Improvement Committee AD 1888."
After population growth, in part associated with the opening of Boxmoor Railway Station on the London and Birmingham Railway
The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR).
The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...
in 1837 and of Hemel Hempsted railway station on the Nickey line in 1877, the area became a municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
, with the town hall as its headquarters, in 1898. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the local municipal borough council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government after a new civic centre, designed by Clifford Culpin and Partners, was completed in 1966. Instead the town hall was used for theatre performances from 1978 and was refurbished for use as an arts centre in 1986.
Notes
References
{{Listed buildings in Hertfordshire Government buildings completed in 1851 City and town halls in Hertfordshire Buildings and structures in Hemel Hempstead Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire