The Old Town Hall on Whittaker Avenue in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, is a former municipal building which from 1893 to 1965 served as the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

for the Municipal Borough of Richmond.

History

In the 1870s the local vestry board, which performed local government functions, used a 19th-century

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

hall at 21 Paradise Road for their meetings. After the area became a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

in 1890, civic leaders decided that this arrangement was inadequate for their needs and that they would procure a purpose-built town hall; the site chosen for the building was occupied by the Castle Hotel in Richmond, which was purchased by Sir John Whittaker Ellis, the local member of Parliament, and was donated by him to the Richmond Vestry in 1888. The foundation stone for new building was laid in 1891. Designed by W. J. Ancell in the " Elizabethan Renaissance" style, it was built by Lansdowne & Company and was officially opened by the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of List of English monarchs, English (later List of British monarchs, British) monarchs ...

on 10 June 1893. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with six bays facing onto Whittaker Street. The central section featured an arched entrance flanked by

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s in the

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

on the ground floor; there was an

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

above the doorway with niches on either side, and three smaller windows above the entrance on the second floor. A

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

was installed at the north-west corner of the building at roof level and a projecting clock, made by the Leeds firm of William Potts & Sons, was installed on the Hill Street frontage; a set of bells were provided by

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell (instrument), bell foundry. It is locat ...

of Loughborough on which the clock chimed the quarters and struck the hours (but the council voted to discontinue use of the bells in 1952). The principal rooms were the council chamber and the mayor's parlour on the first floor. A bust of Sir John Whittaker Ellis by

Francis John Williamson Francis John Williamson (17 July 1833 – 12 March 1920) was a British portrait sculptor, reputed to have been Queen Victoria's favourite. Career After studying under John Bell he was an articled pupil of John Henry Foley for seven years, ...

was unveiled by

Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth; 27 November 1833 – 27 October 1897), later known as the Duke of Teck#The Teck branch of the Württembergs, Duchess of Teck, was a member of the British royal family. She w ...

on the staircase of the building in 1895. The council chamber was completely gutted and other parts of the building badly damaged by a fire-bomb on 29 November 1940 during

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

; following a complete restoration to the designs of Gordon Jeeves, the building was reopened by

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

on 16 December 1952. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the Municipal Borough of Richmond for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

was formed in 1965. Instead York House in Twickenham performed that role for the new borough. The old town hall was refurbished as part of scheme to redevelop the riverside area to the designs of

Quinlan Terry John Quinlan Terry CBE (born 24 July 1937) is a British architect. He was educated at Bryanston School and the Architectural Association School of Architecture. He was a pupil of architect Raymond Erith, with whom he formed the partnership ...

in 1988. Although some of the building's ground floor was subsequently leased for retail use, most of the former town hall was retained to accommodate the Central Reference Library and the Museum of Richmond, which was formally opened by

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. ...

on 28 October 1988. A section of the building was also converted into an art gallery (the Riverside Gallery) and Richmond Local Studies Library and Archive moved into the building in 2000.

References

External links

* * {{LB Richmond upon Thames 1893 establishments in England City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1893 History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Politics of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Richmond, London Jacobethan architecture

History

See also

References

External links