Wallington Town Hall is a municipal building in Woodcote Road, Wallington, London. It 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

In the early 20th century Beddington and Wallington Urban District Council was based at 37 Manor Road, the former offices of Wallington Parish Council. After rapid population growth in the area, civic leaders decided to procure a purpose-built town hall: the site chosen for the new building was "Sunny Bank", a house on Woodcote Road, Wallington, which was bought in 1929. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Mr W. J. Mallinson DL on 12 May 1934. It was designed by Robert Atkinson in the

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Hano ...

, built by Perry (Ealing) Ltd and was officially 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

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...

, Sir Richard Meller, on 21 September 1934. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with eleven bays facing onto Woodcote Road; the central section of five bays featured a three-bay porch with fluted

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; there was a central window and balcony with

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

railings on the first floor with the borough

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

carved by the sculptor,

Eric Aumonier Aubrey Eric Stacy Aumonier (5 May 1899 – 1974), was a British sculptor. Life Aumonier was born in Northwood, Middlesex (now northwest London); his family name is Huguenot (French Protestant). Eric's grandfather, William, founded the Aumonie ...

, above; there was 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 ...

-clad clock tower with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

at roof level. The clock was designed and manufactured by

Gillett & Johnston Gillett & Johnston was a clockmaker and bell foundry based in Croydon, England from 1844 until 1957. Between 1844 and 1950, over 14,000 tower clocks were made at the works. The company's most successful and prominent period of activity as a bel ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. The landscaping around the building incorporated a garden of remembrance and a flagpole, which was erected in a prominent position in front of the building. The principal room was a double-height council chamber; the interior made extensive use of

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

paneling and the double-flight staircase, which was made from black and white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, was decorated in an

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style. Pevsner noted that the "romanticism of Sweden and Holland in the 1920s is represented, surprisingly prettily and pleasantly, by Wallington Town Hall". The building went on to become the headquarters of the

Municipal Borough of Beddington and Wallington Beddington and Wallington was, from 1915 to 1965, a local government district in north east Surrey, England. It formed part of the London suburbs, lying within the Metropolitan Police District and the London Passenger Transport Board, London Passe ...

when 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 ...

in 1936. It ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged

London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is a London borough in south-west London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to ...

was formed in 1965. After being used as the local registrar's office in the late 1960s and the 1970s, it was converted into a courthouse by dividing the council chamber into two courtrooms, one above the other, in 1980. After the courts moved out in April 1999, the building was then converted for educational use and became part of

Sutton College Sutton College (born 2015) formerly known as Sutton College of Learning for Adults (SCOLA, 2001-2015) and Sutton College of Liberal Arts (1972-2001), is a college based in the Borough of Sutton in London, England. The college offers over 1000 par ...

in October 2005.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Sutton City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1934 Grade II listed government buildings 1934 establishments in England