Wakefield Old Town Hall, also known as No. 5 Crown Court, is a historic building in the city centre of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

, in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, in England. After operating as a town hall from 1861 to 1880, it served as an organ factory and then as commercial offices, before being adapted for residential use.

History

The building lies on Crown Court. It was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

and constructed between 1798 and 1800 as the New Assembly Rooms, replacing rooms in the White Hart Inn on Kirkgate. In 1803, the ''Wakefield Star'', the town's first newspaper, was founded in and published from the building. The Assembly Rooms closed in about 1821, and from 1845 the building served as the headquarters of the Wakefield Church Institution. This moved into purpose-built premises in 1858, and from 1861, the building housed the council chambers. The council moved into a new

Wakefield Town Hall Wakefield Town Hall is a municipal building in Wood Street in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It remains a venue for weddings and civil partnerships but is no longer the headquarters of Wakefield Council which is now based at County Hall. ...

in 1880. The old town hall then became an organ building factory, operated by Alfred Kirkland, in 1893. Kirkland continued designing and manufacturing organs there, until the end of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

when he relocated to Holloway Road in London. The building was then adapted for commercial use as offices. A variety of commercial tenants were subsequently accommodated including, since the early 21st century, a recruitment business operating in the accounting sector. A piece of public art, sculpted by Oliver Barratt, cast in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and known as "seams", was unveiled outside the building in July 2007. Since 2018, the building has largely been in residential use.

Architecture

The building is two storeys high, with a basement. It is seven bays wide, and is built of brick, faced with

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

. All the windows are sashes, and those on the first floor have round heads. There is a four-panel front door, up three steps, with a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

, above which is inscribed "TOWN HALL". There are wrought iron railings in front of the building. The building was

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1971.

References

{{Wakefield, West Yorkshire City and town halls in West Yorkshire Government buildings completed in 1800 Grade II listed buildings in West Yorkshire Listed buildings in Wakefield

History

Architecture

See also

References