Town hall

Municipal Council of Penang Island

in Malaysia

Recife, Brazil

In

, and of the executive arm of the municipality (if one exists distinctly from the council).

By convention, until the middle of the 19th century, a single large open chamber (or "hall") formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for council meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the "town hall" (and its later variant "city hall") has become synonymous with the whole building, and with the administrative body housed in it. The terms "council chambers", "municipal building" or variants may be used locally in preference to "town hall" if no such large hall is present within the building.

The local government may endeavor to use the building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, "town halls" serve not only as buildings for government functions, but also have facilities for various civic and cultural activities. These may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits, and festivals. Modern town halls or "civic centres" are often designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind. In some European countries, the town hall is the venue for the declaration of Christmas Peace, such as Turku and Porvoo in Finland^[3] and Tartu in Estonia.^[4]

As symbols of local government, city, and town halls have distinctive architecture, and the buildings may have great historical significance – for example the Guildhall, London. City hall buildings may also serve as cultural icons that symbolize their cities.

Nomenclature

In

, and elsewhere.

People in some regions use the term "city hall" to designate the council offices of a

City Hall

in London, opened in 2002, is an exceptional case, being the seat not of a conventional municipal authority, but of a regional strategic authority.

The Oxford English Dictionary sums up the generic terms:

• town hall: "A building used for the administration of local government, the holding of court sessions, public meetings, entertainments, etc.; (in early use also) a large hall used for such purposes within a larger building or set of buildings. ... By metonymy: the government or administration of a town; the town authorities."^[5]
• city hall: "(The name of) the chief administrative building or offices of a municipal government. ... Originally and chiefly North American. Municipal officers collectively; city government."^[6]

]

Other names are occasionally used. The administrative headquarters of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall, signifying a place where taxes were paid. In a few English cities (including Birmingham, Coventry and Nottingham) the preferred term is "Council House": this was also true in Bristol until 2012, when the building was renamed "City Hall". In Birmingham, there is a distinction between the Council House and the Town Hall, a concert and meeting venue that pre-dates it. In Sheffield, the distinction is between the Town Hall, the seat of local government, and the City Hall, a concert and ballroom venue. In Leeds, the Town Hall, built in the 1850s as a seat of local government, now functions primarily as a concert, conference, and wedding venue, many of its municipal functions having moved in 1933 to the new Civic Hall.

History

Large halls called basilicas were used in ancient Rome for the administration of justice, as meeting places, and for trade.

In the

, the great hall remained an essential unit within the architectural complex.

In the later Middle Ages or early modern period, many European market towns erected communal market halls, comprising a covered space to function as a marketplace at street level, and one or more rooms used for public or civic purposes above it. These buildings were frequently the precursors of dedicated town halls.

The modern concept of the town hall developed with the rise of local or regional government. Cities administered by a group of elected or chosen representatives, rather than by a lord or princely ruler, required a place for them to meet. The

.

During the 19th century, town halls often included reading rooms to provide free education to the public, and it later became customary for the council to establish and maintain a public library. The grand chamber or meeting place, the "town hall" itself, became a place for receptions, banquets, balls, and public entertainment. Town halls were often equipped with large pipe organs to facilitate public recitals.

In the 20th century, town halls served the public as places for voting, examinations,

, relief in times of disaster, and for posting lists of war casualties, as well as for the more usual civil functions, festivities, and entertainments. Local councils have increasingly tended to move administrative functions into modern offices. Where new premises are designed and constructed to house local governments, the functions of an administrative office and a civic town hall have become separated.

Language

Particularly in North America, "city hall" can be used as a

).

See also

• List of city and town halls
• Ratusz
• Barangay hall
• Market hall
• Moot hall
• Town meeting
• Administrative centre

References

Further reading

• Cunningham, Colin (1981). Victorian and Edwardian Town Halls. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  ISBN 071000723X
  .
• Tittler, Robert (1991). Architecture and power: the town hall and the English urban community, c.1500–1640. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-820230-1
  .
• Drooker, Arthur (2021). City Hall: Masterpieces of American Civic Architecture. Schiffer Publishing.
  ISBN 978-0-76-436049-7
  .