Municipal magnificence: London's town halls from Acton to Waltham Forest are being transformed into striking new homes and hotels
London's councils were not always “cash-strapped”. The civic pride of our forefathers led to a profusion of magnificent town halls being built across the capital between the mid-1860s and the start of the Second World War.
Architectural styles ranged from the opulent Edwardian Baroque masterpiece in Woolwich to Havering’s unadorned International Moderne design.
But long before the dawning of the age of austerity in 2009, these municipal masterpieces were being seen as costly to maintain and inefficient, often thanks to the 1965 borough boundary changes that left many buildings surplus to requirements.
NEW ROLES FOR OUR TIMES
Their size and grandeur offers myriad possibilities for conversion. The first residential project was in Bermondsey when its 1928 town hall extension became Bath House Lofts, a 41-apartment scheme that won the Evening Standard New Homes Award 2015 for Conversions in London.
Today, approaching completion in Acton, west London is The Old Town Hall, a splendid Grade II-listed Baroque Palazzo-style building. Its 58 apartments retain many heritage features, such as hefty fireplaces, panelled walls and high ceilings.
Prices range from £405,000 for a third-floor studio to £725,000 for a two-bedroom duplex. Thirteen new-build apartments offer either a balcony or terrace.
Help to Buy is available, as is shared ownership. Call 020 8012 7427.
Acton is looking forward to the Crossrail effect putting the fizz back into the area — Acton Central station is on the new Elizabeth line, with four services an hour from December next year.
Acton is already feeling the vibe with a lively pub scene, a regular market and a new leisure centre.
In Brixton, the redevelopment of Lambeth’s municipal buildings will add some pizzazz to the town centre.
The magnificent Baroque Revival centrepiece will retain its civic functions, while Art Deco extension Ivor House offers 26 one- and two-bedroom flats.
The remaining two-bedroom homes start at £675,000.
A later extension, Hambrook House, has been demolished and construction has begun on 94 new homes. Across the entire scheme 40 per cent will be affordable. Call 020 3603 5546.
In north London, the distinctive Grade II* Hornsey Town Hall — on the English Heritage At Risk register for nearly 20 years — should emerge in 2020 as a new hotel, part of the Dorsett chain, plus an arts centre and 135 new homes by award-winning Make Architects.
Planning for Far East Consortium’s £30 million restoration, which includes a new fountain and upgraded public realm, was approved by Haringey council in June. Call Savills on 020 7409 8756 for more information.
An exciting project is gathering pace in east London, putting the 1937 Waltham Forest Town Hall — a fine example of Continental Classicism — at the centre of a new neighbourhood to include 500 new homes with a minimum of 35 per cent affordable. Completion is estimated for 2020-21.
And in Hammersmith, prestigious local practice Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners will renovate the historic Thirties town hall, demolish its “eyesore” extension and build hundreds of new homes, half of which are set to be affordable.
Town hall renaissances are not always residential. Bethnal Green’s became the luxurious Town Hall Hotel in 2010. Lansbury Heritage Hotel near Canary Wharf, formerly known as Old Poplar Town Hall, is a TripAdvisor favourite.
Camden’s brutalist Euston Road extension is opening imminently as the 270-bed Standard London, while plans to turn Ealing’s neo-Gothic showpiece into a boutique hotel were approved by the council last month. Educational use offers another opportunity.
Dagenham’s modernist Civic Centre building is now Coventry University’s London campus; Edwardian Deptford Town Hall is part of Goldsmiths University of London, and handsome Brent was reborn in 2015 as a French school.
Cultural activities also fit well. On September 6, three years after the fire that nearly destroyed it, Battersea Arts Centre will reopen in the Victorian former Battersea Town Hall. And since 2016, Southwark’s town hall has been a community arts hub, student accommodation and Theatre Peckham.
The Urdang Academy of musical theatre restored ornate Finsbury Town Hall as its new home in 2007, though the stunning Art Nouveau Grand Hall still serves as a wedding venue.
A TOUCH OF ROMANCE
Many London town halls have found a commercial role as venues for civil weddings, including celebrity favourite Marylebone, which reopened in January after a £60 million refurbishment paid for by the London Business School, which shares the site.
Another legendary venue, Chelsea Old Town Hall, is undergoing a major face lift which should complete early next year.
However, not all town halls come to a happy ending. Grand Victorian Kensington Town Hall was demolished in 1982, hours before it could be listed.
Campaigners recently stopped Southall Town Hall from becoming a Hindu temple but Ealing council still wants to sell it.
Flamboyant Fulham is also on the market, while Poplar’s 1938 New Town Hall, once hailed the country’s first modernist town hall, lies eviscerated on the Bow Road.