Skipton Town Hall is the town hall of Skipton, North Yorkshire. It is located on the town's High Street and is home to Craven Museum & Gallery as well as a Concert Hall with events and performance programme and Skipton Tourist Information Centre. Skipton Town Council also reside in the Victorian building, which is Grade II listed.[1][2][3][4]
In the mid-19th century a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the Skipton Public Buildings Company, to finance and commission a public events venue for the town. The site they selected was occupied by the former vicarage of the Holy Trinity Parish Church.[5]
The new building, designated No. 19 High Street, was designed in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1862. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing the High street. It featured a two-storey portico, with two Corinthian order columns and two pilasters on the ground floor and four Corinthian order columns on the first floor.[1] The balcony at the front of the building was used to make public announcements.[5] Later the hall and the building next to it, No. 17 High Street, a commercial building became integrated.[5] In 1878, alterations were made to increase the height of the main hall which was used as a public functions room.[2]
In 1895, upon the creation of Skipton Urban District Council, the building was purchased to replace the former town hall situated on Sheep Street.[2][6] The interior was altered to create a council chamber: the benches and chairs were made by the legendary furniture maker Robert Thompson also known as the "mouseman".[5][7][8]
During the 19th century a glass canopy was built onto the front of the Town Hall and lasted until the 1950s, and in 1935 the hall was made larger to accommodate more office space.[2][5] The town hall continued to be used as a public venue and concert performers included the contralto singer, Kathleen Ferrier, who made an appearance on 27 January 1952.[9] The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the urban district council for much of the 20th century[5] and remained the meeting place for the enlarged Craven District Council which was formed in 1974.[10] The new council moved the museum from its previous location at the library to the first floor of the town hall annexe, and a professional museum team were hired to run the museum.[5]
In spring 2019 work started on a redevelopment project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and costing £4.5 million, to restore and upgrade the concert hall, to redesign the museum and to provide new gallery space. The building reopened in 2021.[11][12][13][14]
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