South Shields 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 ...

on Westoe Road in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

, England. It serves as the headquarters of

South Tyneside Council South Tyneside Council is the local authority of South Tyneside in Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Loc ...

The Old Town Hall

The first town hall in South Shields was commissioned as a manorial courthouse by the Dean and Chapter of Durham in the Market Place in 1768. The design included arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held, steps leading to a door on the first floor on the north side and

Venetian window A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian a ...

s on the first floor on the other sides. At roof level there is a square timber turret with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

. Following incorporation as 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 ...

in September 1850, the new civil leaders at South Shields Corporation acquired the building for use as a town hall in 1855.

The new Town Hall

After the first town hall was deemed inadequate in the 1890s, civic leaders decided to procure new premises. The site selected was a piece of open land at the corner of Bent House Lane (later known as Beach Road) and Westoe Road. The foundation stone for the new building was laid in 1905. It was designed by Ernest Fatch in the Edwardian Baroque style, was built at a cost of £78,000 and was officially opened by the Mayor, George Thomas Grey, on 19 October 1910. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with thirteen bays facing onto Westoe Road with the end bays projected forward as pavilions; the central section of three bays, which also projected forward, featured a doorway with a stone surround on the ground floor, a round headed window on the first floor flanked by paired

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

columns with a broken pediment above. Above the pediment was a seated figure supported by two reclining figures. The architect installed a high clock tower, with a belfry (with figures representing the four seasons of the year at the corners) and a

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...

on top, which rose above the north pavilion. A main bell and four quarter bells were installed in the clock tower to play the

Westminster Quarters The Westminster Quarters, from its use at the Palace of Westminster, is a melody used by a set of four quarter bells to mark each quarter-hour. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, Cambridge Quarters or Cambridge Chimes from its place of ...

. A statue by

Albert Toft Albert Toft (3 June 1862 – 18 December 1949) was a British Sculpture, sculptor. Toft's career was dominated by public commemorative commissions in bronze, mostly single statues of military or royal figures. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen V ...

depicting

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

was erected outside the town hall on 7 May 1913.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

, visited the town hall on 29 October 1954. In order to provide additional office space, a modern extension along Beach Road was opened by the mayor, Alderman Jack Richardson, on 19 October 1960. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of South Shields Borough Council and remained the local seat of government after the enlarged

was formed in 1974. Statues by the

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, Roger Andrews, depicting Private Thomas Young VC and Lieutenant

Richard Annand Captain Richard Wallace Annand VC, ERD, DL (5 November 1914 – 24 December 2004) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and ...

VC, who served with the

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

in 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 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 ...

respectively, were unveiled inside the town hall in May 2007.

Notes

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1910 City and town halls in Tyne and Wear Grade II listed buildings in Tyne and Wear Buildings and structures in South Shields