Stockport Town Hall is a building in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, that houses the government and administrative functions of

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The council is currently run by a Liberal Democrat minority administration. At the 2022 local elections, the ...

. Stockport Town Hall 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 the architect Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas in the English Baroque style, was opened by the then

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...

on 7 July 1908. To commemorate the Royal visit, part of Heaton Lane, a main shopping street in the town, was renamed Prince's Street. The ballroom in the town hall served as a hospital during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and to was used as a home for refugees from the Channel Islands during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The town hall, which had served as the headquarters of the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

of Stockport for much of the 20th century, continued to be the local seat of government after the enlarged

was formed in 1974.

Description

The chamber is decorated with elaborate plasterwork, brass chandeliers and decorative carvings on oak benches. The civic collection of silver, some of which dates from the 15th century, lines the wall of the corridor outside the chamber. An imposing Italian marble entrance leads to the Edwardian Ballroom, which former poet laureate Sir

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

described as "magnificent". The ballroom has a

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

Publix One

theatre organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements ...

with 4 manuals and 20 ranks of pipes, specified by

Jesse Crawford Jesse Crawford (December 2, 1895 – May 28, 1962) was an American pianist and organist. He was well known in the 1920s as a theatre organist for silent films and as a popular recording artist. In the 1930s, he switched to the Hammond organ and b ...

. It was originally installed in the Paramount Cinema on Oxford Road in Manchester in 1930; it had been planned to install one of these in each of the 50 Paramount theatres, however this was the only one to be installed, and the only one of that model to leave the United States. When the theatre was divided, the organ was acquired by the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust, loaned to the

City of Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

and relocated to the

Free Trade Hall The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street, Manchester, England, was constructed in 1853–56 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now a Radisson hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. T ...

(a process taking four years); and was first used there in September 1977. When the Free Trade Hall closed, it was moved to the Stockport Town Hall in 1999. The town hall, which as the home of Stockport Symphony Orchestra, hosts classical concerts on a regular basis, has been nicknamed "the wedding cake".

Gallery

Image:Stockport Town Hall under construction c.1907.jpg, Stockport Town Hall under construction c.1907 Image:Opening of Stockport Town Hall 1908.jpg, The

and

at the opening of Stockport Town Hall Image:Stockport Town Hall (1).jpg, Stockport Town Hall Image:Stockport_Town_Hall,_main_entrance.jpg, Stockport Town Hall, main entrance Image:Stockport_town_hall_2009_002.jpg, stockport Town Hall Image:Stockport_town_hall_2009_001.jpg, Stockport Town Hall Image:Stockport Town Hall facade.jpg, front facade of Stockport Town Hall

References

{{Buildings and structures in Stockport Borough Buildings and structures in Stockport City and town halls in Greater Manchester Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester Government buildings completed in 1908

History

Description

Gallery

See also

References