Camden Town Hall | |
---|---|
Location | Euston Road, Camden |
Coordinates | 51°31′44″N0°07′32″W / 51.5290°N 0.1255°W |
Built | 1937 |
Architect | Albert Thomas |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Designated | 19 April 1996 |
Reference no. | 1379162 |
Camden Town Hall, known as St Pancras Town Hall until 1965, is the headquarters of Camden London Borough Council. The main entrance is in Judd street with its northern elevation extending along Euston Road, opposite the main front of St Pancras railway station. It has been Grade II listed since 1996. [1]
In the early 20th century the borough council was based at the 19th century vestry offices in St Pancras Way which had been commissioned for the Parish of St Pancras. [2] [3] After civic leaders found that the vestry offices were inadequate for their needs, they elected to construct a purpose-built facility: the site selected on Euston Road had previously been occupied by some Georgian terraced housing. [4]
The new building was designed by Albert Thomas, who also designed housing schemes for the St Pancras Borough Council, in the neoclassical style. [2] The construction which was undertaken by Dove Brothers of Islington involved a steel frame clad with Portland stone and the work started in 1934. [2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with 13 bays facing onto Judd Street; the central section of three bays featured three doorways on the ground floor; there were three windows on each of the first and second floors flanked by huge Corinthian order columns supporting a pediment. [1] A carving of the borough coat of arms was erected above the central window on the first floor. The design for the Euston Road frontage involved 23 bays with two sections designed in a similar style to the Judd Street elevation i.e. with windows flanked by huge Corinthian order columns supporting pediments. [1] Internally, the principal rooms were an assembly hall on the ground floor in the east of the building and the council chamber and mayor's parlour on the first floor in the west of the building. [2] The building was officially opened in October 1937. [2] [5]
A "Caribbean Carnival", a precursor of the Notting Hill Carnival, was held on 30 January 1959 in the town hall, organised by activist Claudia Jones as a response to the 1958 Notting Hill race riots and the state of race relations in Britain at the time. [6] A few months later, on 27 May 1959, Princess Margaret attended a meeting of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the town hall. [7]
The building served as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras and continued to operate as the local seat of government after the formation of the London Borough of Camden in 1965. [1] An eight-storey extension designed by the borough architect's department was built to the east of the main building in 1977. [2] It was designed in a modern architectural style and was clad in white pre-cast panels with curved window corners. [8] [9] A rooftop conservatory was added in the 1990s. [10]
In February 2020 the council started a programme of refurbishment works to plans prepared by Purcell. [11] The works, which are being managed by Lendlease at an estimated cost of £40 million, [12] involve restoration of the historic areas used by the council and the redevelopment of the basement and upper floors so those floors can be let out as commercial space. [13]
King's Cross is a district on either side of Euston Road, in north London, England, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Barnsbury to the north, Clerkenwell and Islington to the east, Holborn to the south and Euston to the west. It is served by two major rail termini, St Pancras and King's Cross. King's Cross station is the terminus of one of the major rail routes between London and the North.
Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston Hall, the family seat of the Dukes of Grafton, who had become major property owners in the area during the mid-19th century.
St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of St Pancras became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council. In 1965 the borough was abolished and its former area became part of the London Borough of Camden in Greater London.
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