Slough Town Hall

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Slough Town Hall
Slough Town Hall (2).jpg
Slough Town Hall
LocationBath Road, Slough
Coordinates51°30′39″N 0°36′18″W / 51.5109°N 0.6050°W / 51.5109; -0.6050Coordinates: 51°30′39″N 0°36′18″W / 51.5109°N 0.6050°W / 51.5109; -0.6050
Built1937
ArchitectCharles Holloway James and Stephen Rowland Pierce
Architectural style(s)Neo-Georgian style
Slough Town Hall is located in Berkshire
Slough Town Hall
Shown in Berkshire

Slough Town Hall is a municipal building in Bath Road, Slough, Berkshire, England. The town hall was the headquarters of Slough Borough Council.

History[]

In the early 20th century, Slough Urban District Council established itself in council offices in William Street.[1] Following significant population growth, largely associated with the development of the local industrial estate by The Slough Trading Co., civic leaders decided to procure a purpose-built town hall: the site they selected was open land on the south side of Bath Road situated among a row of large residential properties.[2]

The project was the subject of a design competition assessed by Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel and won by Charles Holloway James and Stephen Rowland Pierce.[3] The new building was designed in the Neo-Georgian style, built in red brick with stone dressings and completed in 1937.[3] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with fifteen bays facing onto Bath Road; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway flanked by stone pilasters supporting an entablature bearing the words "Town Hall". There were three tall windows with stone surrounds and iron balconies on the first floor, five small square windows on the second floor and a large pediment containing the town's coat of arms in the tympanum: there was a clock tower with a belfry and finial at roof level. To the left there was a wing of ten bays with the end bay projected forward as a pavilion but to the right there was wing of just two bays suggesting that the architects had identified this area for future expansion.[4][5] Internally, the principal room was the council chamber which benefited from fine oak and walnut panelling.[6]

Following further industrial development the area was advanced to the status of municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in 1938.[7] Although highly critical of what he perceived as the overdevelopment of Slough,[8] the future Poet Laureate, Sir John Betjeman, described the architecture of the building favourably, as "a striving for unity out of chaos".[9] The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the local borough council for much of the 20th century and remained the local seat of government after the enlarged Slough District Council was formed in 1974.[10] Councillor Lydia Simmons became the UK's first black mayor at the town hall in May 1984.[6]

However, in 2008, the Slough Borough Council, which had become the unitary authority for the area in 1997, decided to close the town hall and to relocate its staff to St Martin's Place in Slough.[11] The council proposed that, in order to maximise the value of the site, the town hall should be demolished and site used for residential development.[6] English Heritage recommended that the building be included, as a listed building, on the National Heritage List for England[6] but, in February 2010, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport decided to disregard the advice and ruled that the building should not be listed.[3] The Twentieth Century Society asked for the decision to be reviewed and said that it believed that "the redevelopment of the town hall would be an act of vandalism to the civic centre".[3] The building was subsequently refurbished at a cost of £1.5 million and re-opened as a primary school in 2012.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ "No. 32846". The London Gazette. 20 July 1923. p. 5005.
  2. ^ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1925. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "Slough Town Hall Listing Refused – DCMS overturns English Heritage's advice again". Twentieth Century Society. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Slough Town Hall, Berkshire: the main entrance". Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Town Hall From Salt Hill Park '50 - a Memory of Slough". Francis Frith. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d "Come friendly bombs ..." BBC. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Slough UD/MB". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  8. ^ Betjeman, John (1937). Continual Dew: A Little Book of Bourgeois Verse. John Murray.
  9. ^ Betjeman, John (1948). Murray's Buckinghamshire Architectural Guide. John Murray.
  10. ^ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  11. ^ "Accommodation Strategy". Slough Borough Council. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  12. ^ "School chosen for Slough Town Hall site". BBC. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
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