Portadown Town Hall

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Portadown Town Hall
Portadown Town Hall, Edward Street, Portadown. - geograph.org.uk - 574764.jpg
Portadown Town Hall
LocationEdward Street, Portadown
Coordinates 54°25′20″N6°26′30″W / 54.4221°N 6.4418°W / 54.4221; -6.4418
Built1890
ArchitectRobert and Thomas Roe
Architectural style(s) Victorian style
Listed Building – Grade B1
Official nameTown Hall, Edward Street, Portadown, County Armagh
Designated14 August 1981
Reference no.HB 14/14/014
United Kingdom Northern Ireland adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Northern Ireland

Portadown Town Hall is a municipal structure in Edward Street, Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The structure, which is primarily used as a theatre, is a Grade B1 listed building. [1]

History

In the late 19th century the town commissioners for Portadown decided to procure various improvements to the town including the construction of new municipal buildings. [2] The new building was designed by Robert and Thomas Roe in the Victorian style, built in red brick with terracotta dressings and was completed in 1890. [3] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Edward Street; the central bay featured, on the ground floor, a doorway flanked by pilasters and brackets supporting a balcony and, on the first floor, a French door, also flanked by pilasters, with a pediment containing a date stone and the inscription "Town Hall" above. The outer bays, which were gabled, were fenestrated by pairs of segmental windows on the ground floor and by pairs of rectangular windows on the first floor. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall. [4]

The area was advanced to the status of urban district in 1899 [5] and to municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in July 1947. [6] A mayoral chain was commissioned and presented to the council by the local rose breeder, Mrs Sam McGredy: the chain was made from gold medals awarded to the family for rose breeding. [7] The town hall was also used for public events from an early stage and performers included the Irish singer, Bridie Gallagher, in May 1952. [8] [9]

The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the urban district council for much of the 20th century, [10] but ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged Craigavon Borough Council was formed in 1973. [11] It was subsequently converted for use as a theatre [12] and became a regular venue for the local production company, the Gateway Theatre Group. [13]

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References

  1. ↑ "Town Hall, Edward Street, Portadown, County Armagh (HB 14/14/014)". Department for Communities. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  2. ↑ "Notes of contracts open: Portadown". British Architect: A Journal of Architecture and Its Accessory Arts. 27 December 1889. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  3. ↑ "Roe, Robert". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  4. ↑ "Town Hall Theatre". Theatres Trust. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  5. ↑ Clancy, John Joseph (1899). A handbook of local government in Ireland; containing an explanatory introduction to the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 : together with the text of the act, the orders in Council, and the rules made thereunder relating to county council, rural district council, and guardian's elections : with an index. Dublin: Sealy, Bryers and Walker. p. 441.
  6. ↑ "No. 1361". The Belfast Gazette . 25 July 1947. p. 179.
  7. ↑ "Granting of Royal Charter of Borough to Portadown 1947". Portadown Photos. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  8. ↑ Livingstone, Jim (2015). Bridie Gallagher. Collins Press. ISBN   978-1848892576.
  9. ↑ "Ulster Variety Theatres: Town Hall". Portadown News. 31 May 1952. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  10. ↑ "No. 2710". The Belfast Gazette . 4 June 1971. p. 293.
  11. ↑ "Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972". Legislation.co.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  12. ↑ "Portadown Town Hall". Discover Craigavon. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  13. ↑ "Dick Whittington set to take over Portadown Town Hall". Belfast Live. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
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