{{Short description|Municipal building in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Cambridge Guildhall | native_name = | image =The Guildhall, Cambridge - geograph.org.uk - 514416.jpg | caption = | locmapin =Cambridgeshire | map_caption = | coordinates ={{Coord|52.2049|0.1192|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location =Cambridge, Cambridgeshire | area = | built =1939 | architect = Charles Cowles-Voysey | architecture =Neo-Georgian style | governing_body = | designation1 =Grade II Listed Building | designation1_offname = | designation1_date =2 August 1996 | designation1_number = 1268372 }} '''Cambridge Guildhall''' is a civic building in the centre of the historic city of Cambridge, England. It includes two halls, ''The Large Hall'' and ''The Small Hall'', and is used for many disparate events such as comedy acts, conferences, craft fairs, live music, talks, and weddings. It is also used by the University of Cambridge for certain examinations. It is owned and managed by the Cambridge City Council, and it is their seat of government. The Guildhall is located on the south side of Market Hill, the market square in Cambridge, between Peas Hill to the west and Guildhall Street to the east. It is a Grade II listed building.<ref name=NHLE>{{NHLE|num=1268372|desc=Guildhall|access-date=4 January 2018|mode=cs2}}</ref>
==History== The earliest known property on the site was a house, previously owned by a Jew known as Benjamin, which King Henry III granted to the town for use as a prison in 1224.<ref name=capture>{{cite web|url=https://capturingcambridge.org/centre/market/guildhall/|title=Jew's House / synagogue / gaol / tollboth / guildhall / town hall|publisher=Capturing Cambridge|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridgeppf.org/FAQs/cambridge-mayoralty|title=Cambridge Mayoralty|date=April 2010 |publisher=Cambridge Past, Present and Future|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref> An adjoining synagogue was leased to the Franciscans who later moved to a convent on a site where Sidney Sussex College now stands.<ref name=capture/> In 1270 the premises became the "tolbooth" as it was known then since its main function concerned tolls for entry to the town and trading at the market.<ref name=capture/> The tollbooth was also used for plays and the troupe of actors, ''Queen Elizabeth's Men,'' performed regularly between 1561 and 1562 and again between 1596 and 1597.<ref>{{cite book|first=Alan H.|last=Nelson|title=Early Cambridge Theatres: College, University, and Town Stages, 1464–1720 |page=90|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0521431774}}</ref>
In 1747, a shire house, designed by Sharman and Barratt in the Classical style, was built, on arches with stalls beneath, on the open area at the front of the Market Square, just to the north of the old tollbooth.<ref name=roach>{{cite web|title='The city of Cambridge: Public buildings', in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City and University of Cambridge|first= J P C |last=Roach |location=London|year= 1959|pages=116–122|publisher=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol3/pp116-122 |access-date= 26 August 2019}}</ref>
Meanwhile, the old tollbooth was rebuilt to a design by James Essex at a cost of £2,500 in 1782.<ref name=capture/> The shire house and the tollbooth were connected by a wooden bridge over Butter Row, a narrow market street with stalls selling dairy products.<ref>{{cite book|title=By-ways of Cambridge History|first= Florence Ada |last=Keynes|page=16|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1947}}</ref> The two buildings operated collectively as "the guildhall" from the late 1840s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~ckh11/cam.html|title=The Guildhall|publisher=Cambridge University|first=C.|last=Hadley|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref> After the old guildhall became inadequate for the council's needs, the current guildhall, which was designed by Charles Cowles-Voysey in the Neo-Georgian style, was built on the site of the two original buildings at a cost of £150,000 and completed in 1939.<ref name=roach/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridgelive.org.uk/guildhall/about-guildhall|title=About the Guildhall|publisher=Cambridge Live|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref>
The guildhall continued to be used as a public venue and concert performers included the contralto singer, Kathleen Ferrier, who made an appearance on 17 May 1951.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=by3Etg9iHjsC&pg=PA289 |title=Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier: Revised and Enlarged Edition| first=Christopher|last= Fifield |publisher=Boydell Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1843830917|page=289}}</ref> A sculpture created by Michael Ayrton in 1950, entitled "Talos", was erected on Guildhall Street in 1973.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://capturingcambridge.org/centre/guildhall-street/statue-of-talos/|title=Sculpture of Talos|publisher=Capturing Cambridge|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref> The guildhall, which had served as the headquarters of the Municipal Borough of Cambridge, continued to be the local seat of government after the creation of Cambridge City Council in 1974.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/libraries-leisure-culture/archives/archives-a-to-z/archives-a-to-z-c|title=Cambridge Borough|publisher=Cambridgeshire County Council|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref> The guildhall was the venue for Crown Court hearings until a dedicated courthouse opened in East Road in June 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/54e6de9e0c383719802572b9005141ed/12c4d4dbc68bc4bd802572ab004b9900?OpenDocument |title=Cambridge Crown Court Moves To New Premises |publisher=Wired-gov.net |date=2004-06-02 |accessdate=2013-11-18}}</ref>
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the guildhall and waved to the crowd from the balcony in November 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.heart.co.uk/cambridge/events/photos/william-and-kate-guildhall-cambridge/|title=William and Kate at Guildhall Cambridge|publisher=Heart.FM|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2012-11-28/the-royal-visit-to-cambridgeshire-in-pictures/|title=The royal visit to Cambridgeshire in pictures|date=28 November 2012|publisher=ITV|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref>
<gallery widths="200" heights="150"> File:Cambridge market place Le Keux 1841.jpg|View of the 18th century shire house (on the left) in the Market Place in 1841 File:cmglee_Cambridge_Guildhall_dinner.jpg|A dinner in the Large Hall of the Cambridge Guildhall viewed from its stage File:cmglee_Cambridge_Guildhall_vaccination.jpg|COVID-19 vaccination in the Large Hall of the Cambridge Guildhall viewed from its main entrance File:TalosCambridge.jpg|View of Cambridge Guildhall in Guildhall Street, with ''Talos'', a sculpture by Michael Ayrton, in foreground in 2006 </gallery>
==See also== * Cambridge Corn Exchange in Wheeler Street * Guild * Guildhall Museum * Worthing Town Hall, which influenced Cowles-Voysey's design for Cambridge Guildhall
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101121010806/http://cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/contact-us/council-buildings/guildhall.en The Cambridge Guildhall website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guildhall, Cambridge}} Category:Government buildings completed in 1939 Category:Culture in Cambridge Category:History of Cambridge Category:Politics of Cambridge Cambridge Category:Grade II listed buildings in Cambridge Category:Charles Cowles-Voysey buildings