{{Short description|Municipal building in London, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Hampstead Town Hall | native_name = | image = Former Hampstead town hall, Haverstock Hill - geograph.org.uk - 415063.jpg | image_size = 260px | caption = Hampstead Town Hall | locmapin = United Kingdom London Camden | map_caption = Shown in Camden | coordinates = {{coord |51.5510|N|0.1665|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location = Hampstead | area = | built = 1878 | architect = Henry Edward Kendall and Frederick Mew | architecture = Italianate style | governing_body = | website = | designation1 = Grade II Listed Building | designation1_offname = | designation1_date = 1 August 1994 | designation1_number = 1378818 }} '''Hampstead Town hall''' is a municipal building on Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, London. It is a Grade II listed building.<ref name=nhle>{{NHLE|desc=Hampstead Town Hall and attached walls and piers|num=1378818|accessdate=28 April 2020}}</ref>
==History== The facility was commissioned by the Vestry of St John who had previously met in the offices of the local workhouse.<ref name=he>{{cite web|url=http://research.historicengland.org.uk/redirect.aspx?id=7096%7CLONDON%27S%20TOWN%20HALLS|title=London's Town Halls|page=32|publisher=Historic England|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> After this arrangement became inadequate for their needs, civic leaders decided to build a dedicated vestry hall: the site chosen for the new building had previously been occupied by part of the Belsize House Estate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/527109/185214/11/100909|title=Ordnance Survey Map|year=1871|access-date=6 September 2020}}</ref> They had also considered a possible site on what became Hampstead Hill Gardens.<ref>Wade, Christopher. The Streets of Belsize. Camden History Society, 1991. p.80</ref>
The new building was designed by Henry Edward Kendall and Frederick Mew in the Italianate style and was built by William Shepherd of Bermondsey; the building was opened without ceremony in June 1878.<ref name=he/> The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Haverstock Hill; the central section featured wide steps leading up to a doorway flanked with windows with integrated oculi on the ground floor; there were three tall round headed windows flanked by brick pilasters on the first floor with a pediment above.<ref name=nhle/> Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber on the ground floor<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archiseek.com/2009/1878-vestry-hall-hampstead-london/|title=1878 – Vestry Hall, Hampstead, London|date=20 July 2009 |publisher=Archiseek|access-date=6 September 2020}}</ref> and the assembly hall on the first floor.<ref name=nhle/> Alterations made in 1886, to a design by Frederick Mew, included a bell tower containing a staircase in the south west corner of the building.<ref name=nhle/>
Meetings of the Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society were held at the town hall from 1897.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol9/pp81-91|first1=T F T |last1=Baker|first2=Diane K |last2=Bolton|first3=Patricia E C |last3=Croot|title='Hampstead: Social and Cultural Activities', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9, Hampstead, Paddington, ed. C R Elrington |location=London|year=1989|pages=81–91|publisher= British History Online|access-date= 29 April 2020}}</ref> The building became the headquarters of the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead when it was formed in 1900<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/londongovernmen00deptgoog|title=London Government Act 1899|first1=Warner|last1=Terry|first2=Bartlett|last2=Morle|year=1899 |publisher=Butterworth & Co.|access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref> and a substantial extension was built to a design by John Murray in the Baroque style, extending the building south west along Belsize Avenue in 1911.<ref name=he/> The suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, gave a speech in the hall in 1913, as did the politician Sir Oswald Mosley, in 1938, and the anti-racism campaigner David Pitt, in 1959.<ref name=open>{{cite web|url=https://openhouselondon.open-city.org.uk/listings/7681|title=Old Hampstead Town Hall|publisher=Open House London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619050821/https://openhouselondon.open-city.org.uk/listings/7681|access-date=28 April 2020|archive-date=19 June 2020}}</ref>
During the Second World War, an air raid precautions centre was built in the grounds.<ref name=open/> It ceased to function as the local of seat of government when the enlarged London Borough of Camden was formed in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/33/contents|title=Local Government Act 1963|publisher=Legislation.gov.uk|access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> Instead it served as the local register office: notable weddings included the singer, Cleo Laine, to the musician, John Dankworth, in 1958, the actor, Dudley Moore, to the actress, Suzy Kendall, in 1968, and the actress, Judi Dench, to the actor, Michael Williams, in 1971, as well as the singer, Lulu, to hair stylist, John Frieda in 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wacarts.co.uk/heritage/hampstead-town-hall-marriages|title=Hampstead Town Hall Marriages|date=29 April 2019 |publisher=Wac Arts|access-date=6 September 2020}}</ref>
Large sections of the building had fallen into a state of disrepair by the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wacarts.co.uk/who-we-are/our-building|title=Our Building |publisher=Wac Arts|access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref> However, it was subsequently restored and converted, to the designs of Burrell Foley Fischer, with the addition of a large glass atrium; it was re-opened for use as an arts centre by the Prince of Wales in 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/heritage/picture-special-of-tour-of-hampstead-town-hall-1-6285561|title=Hampstead Town Hall: Open House tours give the public the chance to see inside historic building|publisher=Ham and High|date=23 September 2019|access-date=6 September 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{commons category}} {{reflist}}
Category:Government buildings completed in 1878 Category:City and town halls in London Category:Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden Category:Hampstead