Accrington Town Hall | |
---|---|
Location | Blackburn Road, Accrington |
Coordinates | 53°45′12″N 2°21′55″W / 53.7532°N 2.3653°W |
Built | 1858 |
Architect | James F. Green and T. Birtwhistle |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | Town Hall |
Designated | 9 March 1984 |
Reference no. | 1362011 |
Accrington Town Hall is a municipal building in Blackburn Road, Accrington, Lancashire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Accrington Borough Council, is a grade II* listed building. [1]
The building was originally commissioned as an assembly hall to commemorate the life of the former Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. [2] [3] The cost of construction was funded by a campaign of public subscription led by a local businessman, Benjamin Hargreaves of Arden Hall. [4] [5] [6]
The new building was designed by James F. Green and T. Birtwhistle in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and opened as the "Peel Institute" in 1858. [7] [8] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Blackburn Road; the central section, which projected forward, featured a porte-cochère supporting a balustrade and a hexastyle portico with Corinthian order columns on the first floor with a pediment above. [1] Internally, the principal room was the assembly hall on the first floor. [1] The assembly hall also accommodated meetings of the local mechanics institute. [9]
The building was acquired by the local board of health in 1864 [10] and the area became a municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in 1878. [10] The Accrington Pals Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment was formally raised by the mayor, Councillor John Harwood, inside the town hall in September 1914; the battalion subsequently marched past the building before preparing to deploy, initially to Egypt and then to the Western Front, during the First World War. [11] [12] [13]
The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century and remained a meeting place for the enlarged Hyndburn Borough Council which was formed in 1974. [14] Many of the council officers and their departments were based at Eagle House before moving to Scaitcliffe House, the former canteen for textile machinery manufacturers, Howard & Bullough, in June 2002. [15] Whilst Scaitcliffe House is used for Hyndburn's committee meetings, full council meetings are still held at the town hall. [16]
A new town square was created in front of the town hall and market hall, to commemorate the lives of the Accrington Pals, in 2017. [17] The scheme involved the removal of a series of trees, which had been planted outside the town hall and market hall in 1962, [18] and the installation of new paving, seating and signage recording the history of the Accrington Pals, Accrington Stanley F.C. and the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the town. [19]