Sandown Town Hall

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Sandown Town Hall
Sandown Town Hall.jpg
Sandown Town Hall
LocationGrafton Street, Sandown
Coordinates 50°39′18″N1°09′27″W / 50.6549°N 1.1575°W / 50.6549; -1.1575
Built1869
ArchitectThomas Dowell
Architectural style(s) Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameTown Hall
Designated14 February 1992
Reference no.1034283
Isle of Wight UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown on the Isle of Wight

Sandown Town Hall is a municipal building in Grafton Street, Sandown, Isle of Wight, England. The structure, which was the meeting place of Sandown Urban District Council, is a Grade II listed building. [1]

History

Following their appointment in 1866, [2] the local board of health decided to commission a new civic building for the town: the site they selected was open land on the east side of Grafton Street. [3] The new building was designed by the local architect, Thomas Dowell, in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £1,278 and was completed in 1869. [4] [5]

The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with six bays facing onto Grafton Street; the right hand section of three bays featured a doorway with a wrought-iron canopy flanked by sash windows with segmental pediments. [1] The first floor was also fenestrated by sash windows, the central window bearing a triangular pediment and the outer windows bearing segmental pediments. The windows were flanked by full-height Doric order columns supporting an entablature and a pediment with the Prince of Wales's feathers and the inscription "Town Hall 1869" in the tympanum. [1] The left hand section of two bays featured round headed windows on the ground floor and segmental windows on the first floor flanked by full-height pilasters supporting an open pediment with an oculus in the tympanum. [1] The central section featured a doorway with a fanlight, a keystone and a pediment on the ground floor and two square headed windows on the first floor; the central section was surmounted by a dentiled cornice and a parapet. [1] Internally, the principal room was the main hall with capacity for 520 people. [2]

A fire station was completed on an adjacent site to the south of the town hall in 1879. [6] Following significant growth in the population, largely associated with the fishing industry, the area became an urban district with the town hall as its headquarters in 1894. [7] The building was also used as an events venue by Sandown Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society which was founded just before the First World War. [8] The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of Sandown Urban District Council and, from 1933, of the Sandown-Shanklin Urban District Council [9] but ceased to be the local seat of government when the council relocated to Shanklin Town Hall in the 1940s. [10] However, Sandown Town Hall continued to be used as an events venue and in the mid-1960s performers included the soul band, Jimmy James and the Vagabonds. [11]

Following implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, ownership of the building passed to South Wight District Council in 1974. [12] It was then acquired by Isle of Wight County Council in 1982, [13] before being transferred to the new unitary authority, Isle of Wight Council in 1995. [14] The building was adapted for occupation as an indoor bowls centre for senior citizens and later as a youth centre and the latter use continued until the building was vacated in June 2017. [15]

Although Sandown Town Council considered using the town hall as its principal meeting place, [16] the town council chose instead to redevelop the Broadway Centre in 2018. [17] A local art curator, Simon Avery, suggested, in July 2020, that the town hall may contain murals by the Victorian artist, Henry Tooth. [18] However, Isle of Wight Council decided, in March 2021, to grant planning permission to convert the building for residential use [19] and then, in September 2021, decided to sell the building to a developer. [20]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "Town Hall (1034283)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Kelly's Directory of Hampshire". 1898. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  3. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1862. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  4. ↑ The Building News and Engineering Journal. Vol. 17. 9 July 1869. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  5. ↑ "No. 8809". The Edinburgh Gazette . 17 July 1877. p. 533.
  6. ↑ "Heritage, Design and Access Statement, Sandown Town Hall, Grafton Street, Sandown" (PDF). Isle of Wight Council. 2020. p. 2. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "Sandown UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  8. ↑ "Sandown Operatic and Dramatic Society: a review of HMS Pinafore". Isle of Wight County Press. 20 April 1912.
  9. ↑ "No. 34727". The London Gazette . 7 November 1939. p. 7506.
  10. ↑ "No. 37535". The London Gazette . 16 April 1946. p. 1920.
  11. ↑ Green, Jonathon (1999). All Dressed Up: The Sixties and the Counterculture. Pimlico. p. 437. ISBN   978-0712665230.
  12. ↑ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN   0-10-547072-4.
  13. ↑ Heritage, Design and Access Statement, p. 4
  14. ↑ "The Isle of Wight (Structural Change) Order 1994". Legislation.org.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  15. ↑ "Councillor Ian Ward has questions to answer over Sandown Town Hall". 12 April 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  16. ↑ "Report of an investigation under Section 59 of the Local Government Act 2000" (PDF). Isle of Wight Council. 1 September 2008. p. 6. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  17. ↑ "Residents demand to know why their council tax precept has been raised 74%". On The Wight. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  18. ↑ "Evidence suggests significant Victorian artist's work hiding under layers of paint in building threatened by council development". On The Wight. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  19. ↑ "Council approve housing plan for Sandown's historic town hall". Island Echo. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  20. ↑ "Notice is pursuant to section 95 of the Localism Act 2011" (PDF). Isle of Wight Council. 20 September 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
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