County Hall is a municipal building on Leicester Road (the A50) in Glenfield,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. It is the headquarters of

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Leicester. The county coun ...

History

In the first half of the 20th century, meetings of

were held at the

Assembly Rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...

in Hotel Street,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, while County Offices were established at No.1 Grey Friars in Leicester in 1936. After deciding that this arrangement was inadequate for their needs, county leaders chose to procure a new county headquarters: the site they selected at Glenfield had previously been open land which they considered was a more economical solution than a city centre site. Construction on the new building began in spring 1965. It was designed by the in-house architectural team in the Brutalist style, was built at a cost of £1.4 million and was completed in November 1967. The design for the five-storey building involved continuous bands of glazing with concrete panelling above and below: a concrete mural depicting the

River Soar The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the East Midlands as well as the principal river of Leicestershire, England. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north throug ...

by Tony Hollaway was unveiled at that time. An extension to accommodate a computer suite opened in 1970, and the Rutland Building extension was completed in 1974. The principal room was the council chamber which was panelled with Japanese

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

and Bombay rosewood.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 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. ...

made an official visit to County Hall during a tour of Leicestershire, on 17 November 1989. A memorial to commemorate local people from the county who had died since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was unveiled on 9 November 2012: the memorial, entitled "Stand Easy", was designed by Kenny Hunter from

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and comprised four bronze statues which were modelled on soldiers from Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College. Works of art in the building include a painting by John Ferneley depicting the Melton Mowbray Horse Fair. The building also contains a large collection of modern art collected by a former director of education, Stewart C. Mason. The Lord-Lieutenant's Young Person of the Year Awards are held annually at County Hall.

References

{{Commons category Buildings and structures in Leicestershire G Government buildings completed in 1967