Old Town Hall, Wolverhampton
Old Town Hall | |
---|---|
Location | North Street, Wolverhampton |
Coordinates | 52°35′10″N 2°07′49″W / 52.5861°N 2.1304°W |
Built | 1871 |
Architect | Ernest Bates |
Architectural style(s) | Renaissance style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Designated | 16 July 1949 |
Reference no. | 1201845 |
The old Town Hall is a former municipal facility in North Street,
History
The building was commissioned to replace an even earlier town hall located in High Green, now known as Queen Square, which had been built in around 1700.[a]
The
Inside, the main entrance led to a vestibule beyond which was an octagonal, domed central hall, providing access to the council chamber on the right, the
As well as being the borough's courthouse, the building was the meeting place of the local municipal borough council, which secured county borough status in 1889.[8] The Queen Mother visited the town hall and met with civic leaders on 3 June 1969.[9][10]
Following the implementation of re-organisation associated with the Local Government Act 1972, the building briefly became the headquarters of Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council, until the council moved to Wolverhampton Civic Centre in 1978.[2] The old town hall then ceased to be used as a municipal facility and instead became the home of the Wolverhampton Law Courts.[11] After Wolverhampton Crown Court moved to the new Wolverhampton Combined Court Centre in Pipers Row in 1991,[12] the old town hall operated primarily as the local home of the magistrates courts.[13] A proposal for the magistrates courts to move to a new complex in Darlington Street was considered in 2010,[14] but subsequently abandoned as uneconomic,[15] and so the building remains the home of the "Black Country Magistrates Court".[16]
Works of art inside the building include a large stature of the first mayor, George Benjamin Thorneycroft, which was sculpted by Thomas Thornycroft in 1851, and later installed within an alcove at the head of the staircase.[1][17][18]
Notes
References
- ^ a b c Historic England. "The Law Courts, Wolverhampton (1201845)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Magistrates Courts". History Website. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Town Hall, Wolverhampton". Architects of Greater Manchester. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ a b Farley, Keith. "Wolverhampton 985 - 1985". History Website. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Wolverhampton Civic Centre: Conservation Area Appraisal" (PDF). Wolverhampton Civic Centre. p. 32. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ a b c "Wolverhampton Town Hall". Mechanics' Magazine: 12. 8 July 1871.
- ^ Pickford, Chris, ed. (1995). Turret Clocks: Lists of Clocks from Makers' Catalogues and Publicity Materials (2nd ed.). Wadhurst, E. Sussex: Antiquarian Horological Society. p. 210.
- ^ "Staffordshire Place Guide - Wolverhampton (township)". Staffordshire County Council. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Chronology: 1960 to 1999". History website. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Visitor Books" (PDF). City of Wolverhampton. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Wolverhampton Town Hall". Wolverhampton Archives. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
- ISBN 978-0429558689.
- ^ "Wolverhampton's Listed Buildings: Old Town Hall - Magistrates Courts". History Website. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ "New magistrates court gets the go-ahead". Express and Star. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ "Wolverhampton council buys back £625,000 plot in Westside development". Express and Star. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Stopping Up Order: Craddock Street Subway" (PDF). Black County Magistrates Court. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Reeve, Lovell Augustus, ed. (1864). Portraits of Men of Eminence, with Biographical Memoirs. Vol. 2. London: Lowell Reeve and Co. pp. 128–32.
- ISBN 978-1782227021.