Kensington Vestry Hall | |
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![]() The Kensington Vestry Hall in 2006 | |
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General information | |
Architectural style | Elizabethan style |
Classification | |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Designated | 15 April 1969 |
Reference no. | 1223748 |
Address | Kensington High Street |
Town or city | London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°30′05″N0°11′33″W / 51.5015°N 0.1926°W Coordinates: 51°30′05″N0°11′33″W / 51.5015°N 0.1926°W |
Completed | 1852 |
Client | Kensington Vestry |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Benjamin Broadbridge |
Main contractor | Thomas Corby |
The Kensington Vestry Hall is a former municipal building on Kensington High Street in Kensington, London, England. The structure, which was built for Kensington Vestry and now accommodates Bank Melli Iran is a Grade II listed building. [1]
In the first half of the 19th century parish leaders met in a room attached to St Mary Abbots Church. [2] In 1851, the newly appointed improvement commissioners decided that this arrangement was inadequate and chose to commission a purpose-built vestry hall; the site they chose had previously been used as a burial ground by the church. [2]
The new building was designed by the architect, James Broadbridge, in the Elizabethan style, [2] [3] [4] was built by Thomas Corby in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £5,000 and was completed in 1852. [3] [5] [6] Its completion was met with dismay by ratepayers, who complained about the outlandish railings. [7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Kensington High Street with the end bays gabled and slightly projected forward; the central bay, which also slightly projected forward, featured an arched porch with a stone surround, a prominent bay window on the first floor and a heraldic frieze and an octagonal clock turret at roof level. [1] The unsightly railings were finally removed in 1880. [2]
By the 1870s the improvement commissioners were already finding the building too small and they relocated to a more substantial building in 1880. [8] The old vestry hall was then converted for use as the Kensington Central Library and was officially re-opened in that capacity by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll in November 1889. [9] The building remained in use as a library for much of the 20th century until the Kensington Central Library relocated to a new site on Hornton Street in 1960. [2] The old vestry hall was listed as Grade II by English Heritage on 15 April 1969 [1] and, by 1998, it was "the only substantial remnant" of what the street looked like during the Victorian era. [7] It subsequently became the home of Bank Melli Iran. [10] [11]
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