Osborne House, formerly Cheadle Town Hall, is a former municipal building in Leek Road in

Cheadle, Staffordshire Cheadle is a market town and civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands District of Staffordshire, England, with a population of 12,000 at the 2021 census. It is located between Uttoxeter, Leek, Ashbourne and Stoke-on-Trent. Dating back to ...

, a town in England. The building retains the façade of the former town hall but has been extensively redeveloped for residential use behind the façade.

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of the Cheadle as a market town, a rural sanitary district was established in 1872. It was administered from the Cheadle Union Workhouse on Bank Street. In 1894, the rural sanitary district was succeeded by Cheadle Rural District Council. In anticipation of the change, and in the context of the need for a public events venue, civic leaders decided to commission a town hall. The site they selected was open land on the west side of Leek Road. The building was designed in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, built in red brick and was officially opened by Lady Manningham Buller, whose seat was at

Dilhorne Hall Dilhorne Hall located in Dilhorne, Staffordshire, England, was the ancestral home of the Buller family. History The Hall occupied an area of approximately four acres but was demolished in the 1920s. Dilhorne Hall was rebuilt in about 1830 by the ...

, on 5 November 1894. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Leek Road. The first bay on the left was fenestrated by a prominent

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...

which was projected forward, with a mullioned and transomed window on the first floor. The third bay on the left originally contained an ornate

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

containing an elliptically headed doorway with an

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

flanked by hexagonal columns with

castellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

s. The right-hand bay was fenestrated on the ground floor by a

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed window surmounted by a pediment; there was another mullioned window on the first floor. The other bays were fenestrated by mullioned windows on both floors. The first and third bays were surmounted by

stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...

s. The newly formed parish council held its first meeting in the town hall around in late 1894. The Girls' Friendly Society and the local masonic lodge also met in the town hall. In March 1915, the town hall was acquired by the Osborne Theatre Company which converted into a cinema known as the Osborne Cinema. It also operated as a venue for concerts and other public events. Meanwhile, the rural district council established its own council offices further north along Leek Road, on the opposite side, in 1937. The building continued to serve as a cinema and concert hall until the early 1970s, when it was converted into a nightclub, initially known initially as Ossies and later as Whispers, but that also closed in 1987. In March 1990, the building was severely damaged by arson. A proposal to restore the building as a heritage centre was unsuccessful, as was an attempt to get the building listed. In 1995, the main part of the building was demolished and replaced by a retirement complex of 15 flats. Much of the facade of the town hall was retained in the new development, which was named Osborne House to recall the name of the former cinema. As part of the redevelopment the portico was dismantled and the front of it was embedded into the right hand bay.

References

{{coord , 52.9886, N, 1.9877, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title City and town halls in Staffordshire Government buildings completed in 1894 Cheadle, Staffordshire