Hornsey Town Hall is a public building in Hatherley Gardens in the

Crouch End Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villag ...

area of

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The building was used by the

Municipal Borough of Hornsey The Municipal Borough of Hornsey was a local government district in east Middlesex from 1867 to 1965. History In 1867, a Local Board was formed for part of the civil parish of Hornsey. The rest of the parish was already under South Hornsey Loca ...

as its headquarters until 1965. 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 Ir ...

History

Early history

Interior, Hornsey Town Hall, London N8 (geograph 4464370)

In the late 19th century, 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 ...

had used offices in Southwood Lane in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

, which had been specially built for them in May 1869. After Hornsey had become an urban district in 1894 and then been incorporated 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 1903, civic leaders decided this arrangement was inadequate for their needs and that they would procure a purpose-built town hall. The site selected for the new facility in Broadway had previously been occupied by properties known as Broadway Hall and Lake Villa. The foundation stone was laid by the mayor, Councillor William Grimshaw, on 29 November 1934. Hornsey Town Hall was the first major UK building to be constructed in the Modernist style. Designed by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

born architect

Reginald Uren Reginald Harold Uren FRIBA (5 March 1906 – 17 February 1988) was a New Zealand-born architect who worked in the United Kingdom for most of his career. Life and work Uren was born in the Belfast area of Christchurch, South Island on 5 March ...

for the

, the building shows the influence of Hilversum town hall in the Netherlands and the design was awarded a bronze medal by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

. It was built by Gee, Walker & Slater and opened by the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

and

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward. He inherited the dukedom ...

on 4 November 1935. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto a small courtyard in Hatherley Gardens with a wing of six bays enclosing the courtyard to the right; the main frontage featured wide steps leading up to three doorways with a canopy above on the ground floor; there were seven tall windows on the first floor with a

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 ...

balcony in front of the central three windows. A tall tower with a flag pole was erected at the corner of the courtyard. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber, the mayor's parlour and the committee room. The building continued to be the headquarters of the

for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation o ...

was formed in 1965. The town hall was used instead for concerts and even hosted the singer, Freddie Mercury, in February 1971. In 1981, it became one of the first of the buildings constructed in the 1930s to achieve listed building status.

Redevelopment

Interior, Hornsey Town Hall, London N8 (geograph 4464259)

After deciding that the town hall was surplus to requirements, the London Borough of Haringey commissioned a generic redevelopment scheme to renovate the town hall and build flats behind it, securing planning permission for that scheme in 2010. In 2011, the London Borough of Haringey agreed to lease the town hall to

Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, formerly Mountview Theatre School, is a drama school in Peckham, south London, England, founded in 1945. The Academy provides specialist vocational training in acting and musical theatre, as well as production ...

on a 125-year lease. Early feasibility studies indicated that the cost of renovating and converting the Grade II* listed building would be £19 million. In June 2012, Mountview was awarded £500,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund for initial development work, a sum which was matched with a further £500,000 from Mountview's own reserves. Following a tender procurement process advertised in the

Official Journal of the European Union An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

, Mountview appointed architects

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest Eng ...

to develop plans for the site to include publicly accessible theatres, acting and dance studios, production arts workshops and student welfare facilities. However, an independent review carried out in 2015 revealed that the cost of developing the site would be greater than originally anticipated and beyond the combined affordability of Haringey Council and Mountview. Mountview committed to finding an alternative site for its new home, but after a suitable site could not be identified in Haringey, Mountview announced a partnership with

Southwark London Borough Council Southwark London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a numbe ...

to create a new purpose-built home on a town centre site in Peckham in south London. In November 2015, the London Borough of Haringey offered the town hall on a 125-year lease to anyone who would take on responsibility to develop residential accommodation on the site and allocate some of the proceeds to restoring the building. A group of local people formed themselves into the Hornsey Town Hall Appreciation Society in the hope of taking the town hall into community ownership and secured 2,501 signatures on a petition to achieve that objective. However, the London Borough of Haringey felt unable to sell the property at an undervalue and invited the Hornsey Town Hall Appreciation Society to participate in a commercial bid being organised by an alliance of local community groups known as the Hornsey Town Hall Community Interest Company. The venture was not successful and the Hornsey Town Hall Community Interest Company was dissolved on 6 November 2018. In October 2019, the Far East International Consortium, a developer selected by Haringey Council, began restoration works on the building. The restoration work, which was carried out to a design by Donald Insall Associates, involved reupholstered leather seating in the council chamber and repairs to the signage, metal balustrading,

parquet flooring Parquet (; French for "a small compartment") is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect in flooring. Parquet patterns are often entirely geometrical and angular—squares, triangles, lozenges—but may contain curves. T ...

and

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...

flooring.

Use as film and TV location

The modernist style and Art Deco interior of the Town Hall has proved popular as a location for film and TV productions. This includes: * regular appearances as the police station in the 2009 gothic crime drama ''

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

'', * the 2011 BBC drama series ''The Hour'' *the British TV drama series ''

Killing Eve ''Killing Eve'' is a British spy thriller television series, produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three. The series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence investigator tasked with capturi ...

'' (in which it represented a grand Moscow hotel).

References

External links

Hornsey Historical SocietyHornsey Town Hall Virtual Tour (Pre-Development)

Hornsey Town Hall Development
{{Authority control Modernist architecture in London Government buildings completed in 1935 Local government buildings in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Haringey City and town halls in London Grade II* listed government buildings Hornsey