The Old Town Hall is a former municipal building on Calderwood Street in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

, London. The building, which is currently in commercial and community use, is a Grade II

listed building 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, Hi ...

History

The old town hall was commissioned by the

town commissioners Town commissioners were elected local government bodies that existed in urban areas in Ireland from the 19th century until 2002. Larger towns with commissioners were converted to urban districts by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, wit ...

to replace an earlier town hall, built in around 1839, which was almost immediately sold to the Metropolitan Police. The site selected for the new building, the second town hall, was on the corner of William Street (now Calderwood Street) and Lower Market Street (now Polytechnic Street). The new building 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 ...

, built in brick and

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone and was completed in 1842. The design involved a short frontage of two bays facing onto Calderwood Street with a longer frontage of four bays facing onto Polytechnic Street. The building was rusticated on the ground floor, accessed through segmental headed doorways on the Polytechnic Street frontage, and was fenestrated by

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s with stone surrounds. The Calderwood Street frontage, which was faced in stone on both floors, was surmounted by a panel, inscribed with the words "Town Hall", and by a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. Internally, the principal rooms were the board room and assembly hall on the first floor. The building was initially shared with Woolwich County Court. It was extended along Calderwood Street, by one extra bay, in 1868 or 1878 (sources are unclear), to create an extra courtroom. Following the sinking of SS ''Princess Alice'', which involved the deaths of between 600 and 700 people on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

on 3 September 1878, Charles Carttar, the

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

for West Kent, opened the

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...

and took the jury to view the bodies at the old town hall and at Woolwich Pier. In 1889 the parish of Woolwich became part of the newly formed

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

and in 1900 the

Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough in the County of London from 1900 to 1965. It was formed from the civil parishes of Eltham, Plumstead and Woolwich (parish), Woolwich. ...

was formed from the parishes of Woolwich,

Plumstead Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Plumstead has been settled since ancient times, and London's earliest timber structure has been found here. ...

and

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

. This prompted the new council to procure a more substantial town hall which was completed in Wellington Street in 1906. The old town hall was subsequently re-purposed for commercial and community use. As well as accommodating the local branch of

Citizens Advice Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this natio ...

, the council has allowed the Indian Cultural Society to operate a day care centre there since 1988. An extensive programme of refurbishment works, which included repairs to the masonry and the removal of internal partitions, was completed in 2022.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1842 Grade II listed government buildings