Shoreham Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street,

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on the ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Shoreham-by-Sea Urban District 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 current building has its origins in a 16th customs house in Church Street, which contained a vault which was originally used for the storage of bonded goods and latterly was used for the storage of wines. After becoming dilapidated and being replaced by the current building, the old customs house was demolished in the mid-19th century. In the 1820s, a local landowner, George Henry Hooper, decided to augment his estate by erecting a new customs house: the site he selected had been occupied by a mansion owned by the Poole family. The new building was designed by

Sydney Smirke Sydney Smirke (20 December 1797 – 8 December 1877) was a British architect. Smirke who was born in London, England as the fifth son of painter Robert Smirke and his wife, Elizabeth Russell. He was the younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke ...

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 ...

, built of brick with a

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

coating and was completed in 1830. The original design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street: the middle bay featured a doorway with

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

supporting a canopy bearing Royal coat of arms of

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

on the ground floor and a three-light

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

on the first floor. The doorway was flanked by pairs of full-height

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 entablature, a

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 ...

with

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 ...

s and a large

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 ...

. After the customs office moved to Southwick in 1880, 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 ...

, which had previously been using premises in East Street; after conversion for municipal use, it was officially re-opened by the

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 ...

for

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

, Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, as Shoreham Town Hall on 18 August 1890. It also extended by one extra bay to the west, recessed from the rest of the frontage, around that time. Following significant population growth, mainly associated with seaside tourism, 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 ...

, with the town hall as its headquarters, in 1910. The building was substantially extended to the rear in 1920 and an ornate oak fireplace which had previously been located in the Fountain Inn, a building which adjoined the local shipbuilding yard, was installed in the town hall at that time. The town continued to serve as the headquarters of Shoreham-by-Sea Urban District Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged

Adur District Council Adur may refer to: Places * Adur, Anekal, a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India * Adur, Azerbaijan, a village in the Quba Rayon * Adur, Bangalore South, a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India * Adur, Haveri, a villag ...

, which had been formed in 1974, moved to the new civic centre on Ham Road in 1980. The town hall was subsequently converted for commercial use with a restaurant on the ground floor and a gym on the first floor.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1830 City and town halls in West Sussex Shoreham-by-Sea Grade II listed buildings in West Sussex

History

See also

References