Toxteth Town Hall, formerly known as Toxteth Park Public Offices, is a municipal building in High Park Street,

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill. The area ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

, England. The structure, which currently operates as a community centre, 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

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the proximity of the township to the

Liverpool Docks The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the r ...

, an improvement act for Toxteth Park, which contemplated the construction of public offices, was enacted in 1842 and a

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 ...

was formed in 1856. One of the first actions of the new board was to commission purpose-built public offices: the site they selected in High Park Street was in the midst of an extensive developing residential area. The new building was designed by Thomas Layland in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

, built in red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

at a cost of £6,500 and opened as the Toxteth Park Public Offices in 1866. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto High Park Street; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a tall round headed window with an architrave flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s and

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 ' ...

supporting an open segmental

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 pedim ...

. The outer bays of the central section contained smaller round headed widows and the whole section was surmounted by an entablature, a modillioned cornice and a modillioned pediment. There was a round headed doorway with a fanlight and a lion mask keystone in the right-hand bay of the left-hand section; the other bays in the two outer sections were fenestrated with sash windows. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall which featured decorative plasterwork involving

garland A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance. Etymology From the ...

s and a plaque depicting a stag which was donated by the

Earl of Sefton Earl of Sefton was a title in the Peerage of Ireland created in 1771 for the 8th Viscount Molyneux. The Earls of Sefton held the subsidiary titles Viscount Molyneux, of Maryborough in the Queen's County (created 1628), in the Peerage of Ire ...

. The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the parish council until it was abolished in 1922. The building was used as a registry office for the remainder of the first half of the 20th century: births registered in the building included that of Ringo Starr in July 1940. The building was then used by the Liverpool Police 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 opposi ...

and was subsequently occupied by the

Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services. Hi ...

until it fell vacant in 1994. In July 1997, a long leasehold interest in the building was sold to a specially-formed charity, the Dingle Multi Agency Centre. The charity then initiated a programme of refurbishment works, financed by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and the

Pilgrim Trust The Pilgrim Trust is a national grant-making trust in the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is a registered charity under English law. It was founded in 1930 with a two million pound grant by Edward Harkness, an American philanthropist. T ...

, in 2003. After the building had re-opened as the Toxteth Town Hall Community Centre, the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

toured the building during his visit to Liverpool in April 2007.

References

{{Reflist Government buildings completed in 1866 City and town halls in Merseyside Toxteth Grade II listed buildings in Merseyside

History

See also

References