Hornsey Town Hall
Encyclopedia
Crouch End
Crouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west...
area of Hornsey
Hornsey
Hornsey is a district in London Borough of Haringey in north London in England. Whilst Hornsey was formerly the name of a parish and later a municipal borough of Middlesex, today, the name refers only to the London district. It is an inner-suburban area located north of Charing Cross.-Locale:The ...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Built in 1935, it was the first major UK building to be constructed in the Modernist
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
style. Designed by architect Reginald Uren 1933-1935, the building shows the influence of Hilversum
Hilversum
is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...
town hall in the Netherlands and was awarded a bronze medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
. It has grade II* listed status. The building was used by Hornsey Borough Council as its headquarters until 1966.
When the former area of the Municipal Borough of Hornsey
Municipal Borough of Hornsey
Hornsey was a local government district in east Middlesex from 1867 to 1965.In 1867, a Local Board was formed for part of the civil parish of Hornsey. The rest of the parish was already under South Hornsey Local Board formed in 1865....
became part of the London Borough of Haringey
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...
most of the administrative functions were re-located at Wood Green
Wood Green
Wood Green is a district in north London, England, located in the London Borough of Haringey. It is situated north of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater London.-History:...
. As a result the building has fallen into disrepair, although steps are being taken to find a new use for the building.
While often being used as a location for films and tv (including Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
and In the Loop
In the Loop
In the Loop is an idiom meaning "informed" or "up-to-date". It may also refer to:*In The Loop, a radio and internet program produced by Minnesota Public Radio*In the Loop , a 2009 feature film directed by Armando Iannucci...
), in 2009 Hornsey Town Hall was used was used by 19;29 Performance as a location for its promenade site-specific production HALL.
Local Government before Hornsey Town Hall
Hornsey became a parish in around 1300. This heavily wooded area contained farms and villas, one of which was Crouch Hall, probably built in 1681 at the crossroads of what came to be known as Crouch EndCrouch End
Crouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west...
. By 1808 the present Town Hall site housed the non-conformist Broadway Chapel, two cottages, an alley and the long low Lake Villa, the gable end of which faced the Broadway. In 1827 the pond by the roadside was filled in. The buildings in front of Lake Villa gradually became shops.
The 1835 Municipal Corporations Act
Municipal Corporations Act 1835
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 – sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales...
had created 178 corporate boroughs in England and Wales. Corporations were to be elected directly by ratepayers, hold open council meetings and maintain audited accounts. This eventually led to the construction of significant Town Halls in industrial cities like Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. The Metropolis Management Act of 1855
Metropolis Management Act 1855
The Metropolis Management Act 1855 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Metropolitan Board of Works, a London-wide body to co-ordinate the construction of the city's infrastructure. The Act also created a second tier of local government consisting of parish vestries...
began a process that changed the way London was administered, creating local boards.
Hornsey was a local government district in south east Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
from 1867 to 1965.
In 1867 a Local Board
Local board of health
Local Boards or Local Boards of Health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate slaughterhouses and ensure the proper supply of water to their...
was formed for part of the civil parish of Hornsey
Hornsey (parish)
Hornsey was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex. It was both a civil parish, used for administrative purposes, and an ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England.- Civil parish :...
. The rest of the parish was already under South Hornsey
South Hornsey
South Hornsey was a local government district in Middlesex, England from 1865 to 1900.The district was formed in 1865 when the Local Government Act 1858 was adopted in the southern part of the parish of Hornsey. South Hornsey Local Board was formed to govern the area.The majority of the district ...
Local Board formed in 1865.
Hornsey Local Board was based at Southwood Lane, Highgate
Highgate
Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
, from 1868 onwards.
The railway was to change Hornsey significantly. Hornsey remained rural until around 1880, probably because of the lack of adequate sewerage. Large parts of Hornsey remained in private ownership, inhibiting development.
Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park is a 46 hectare public park in the London Borough of Haringey. Officially part of the London area of Harringay, it is also adjacent to Stroud Green, the Finsbury Park district and Manor House. It was one of the first of the great London parks laid out in the Victorian...
, the first public open space, opened in 1869. By 1887 Hornsey had seven railway stations. Crouch End
Crouch End
Crouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west...
was to become a prosperous middle class suburb due to an influx of mainly clerical workers who could easily commute to the city. Public parks were opened at Highgate wood (‘86), Clissold (‘89) and Waterlow (‘91). Crouch End playing fields opened in 1892. A number of new roads and avenues, such as Elder Avenue and Weston Park (‘89) sprang up. Crouch and Topsfield Halls were replaced by Topsfield Parade (‘92) and Broadway Parade (‘95). Ferme Park and the Crouch Hall estate were partly built up by 1894. The council built the Clock Tower in 1895 as a memorial to Henry Reader Williams.
In 1899 London was divided into 28 metropolitan boroughs, funded by grants and loans from central Government. This started an evolution in the role of the local authority - they became town planners, were able to build low-cost houses, were responsible for education and the social welfare of the people and eventually the provision of the basic utilities of life.
By the time Edward VII became king in 1901, 11% of the population of Hornsey were male clerks and there were nearly 8,000 people employed as servants, the vast majority of them women. The middle class, conservative nature of the borough became increasingly established. Hornsey was being compared with Kensington as North London's west end. A large proportion (15%) of the borough was parkland, population density was only 30 people per acre and Hornsey had the lowest death rate of any large town in the London area. Hornsey was incorporated as a Borough in 1903.
By the mid-1930s Crouch End was a solid, middle-class town with a thriving and popular shopping centre that included an Opera House in the middle of Topsfield Parade. In a society where rail, post, telephone, coal and water were government-owned and operated, the local authority had wide-ranging responsibilities, including the provision of electricity to the population by building generating plants. The reach of education now encompassed the libraries that had previously been established by charities. The Town Hall played a significant part in public life.
A brief history of Hornsey Town Hall
By the end of the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Hornsey Borough Council had outgrown their forty-year old offices at the edge of the borough in Highgate
Highgate
Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
. In 1920 and 1923 the council had bought the long, wedge-shaped site of the present Town Hall. It contained Broadway Hall (destroyed by fire in 1923), Lake Villa and some cottages. The Council laid it out as a public park with a playground. By 1929 the Council had a plan to build their offices above the Broadway frontage, subsidised by shops below, but the lack of car parking made it unworkable.
A design competition was held in October 1933, assessed by a RIBA
Riba
Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...
-appointed architect, C. Cowles Voysey
Charles Cowles-Voysey
Charles Cowles-Voysey was born in London, UK on 24 June 1889 and died there on 10 April 1981. He was the son of Charles Voysey and was responsible for the design of Kingsley Hall which included a main hall also used for worship, and five rooftop cells for community volunteers.John Brandon-Jones...
, designer of the much-praised Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
Town Hall. 1930’s architecture was emerging from the Edwardian era of Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
and Baroque revival
Edwardian Baroque architecture
The term Edwardian Baroque refers to the Neo-Baroque architectural style of many public buildings built in the British Empire during the Edwardian era ....
, Neo-Georgian, French Beaux-Arts and the Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
movement. It was coming under increasing influence from the 1920s European idea that form should follow function. Steel elements were being used; soon followed by reinforced-concrete frames. These modern techniques, deployed without ornament, were seen as ‘honest’. The modern movement was naturally applied to modern uses – garages and factories, health clinics, swimming pools and underground stations.
Modern Town Hall building in the UK had begun in the late Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
in the industrial towns of the North and the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
. Before the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
municipal architecture had been based on the classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
brick-based style created by Sir Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
. It was exemplified by Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
Town Hall (1885-7) whose designer James Brydon called it Wrenaissance. In London between the First
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and Second
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
World Wars the majority of metropolitan town halls were built - 26 new complexes over twenty years.
The town hall always contained a chamber on the top floor (for better ventilation and lighting) in which the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
faced a semicircle (or horseshoe) of council members. It was used for a range of ceremonies with public access and needed to house an increasingly large staff of council workers. As well as a rates collection office, the town hall usually had a drawing office best illuminated by natural light, which the architect often placed around an open space such as an inner courtyard.
As the designs evolved council chambers were put further away from the front of the building to reduce the effects of street noise. Public assembly halls were added as a requirement to town halls built in the 1920 and 1930s, often built at the side or rear to permit future expansion.
At the time of the Hornsey competition the majority of London town halls built thus far fell into three main categories. There was the courtyard plan, sometimes left open, as at Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
and at Beckenham
Beckenham
Beckenham is a town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is located 8.4 miles south east of Charing Cross and 1.75 miles west of Bromley town...
. Examples of the long single range could be found at Dagenham
Dagenham
Dagenham is a large suburb in East London, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began...
and Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a suburban development situated north of Charing Cross. The centre of Friern Barnet is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane , Woodhouse Road and Friern Barnet Road .-History:Friern Barnet was an...
. Less common was the group plan, where the elements were separate but linked to one another, as used by Bradshaw, Gas and Hope at Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
in 1928-31.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n public architecture was much admired, notably the simplified classical lines of Ragnar Östberg's Stockholm City
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
Hall (1909–32). In the UK it was sometimes mixed with the traditional English approach to produce Swedish-Georgian. The brick-based Town Hall for Hilversum
Hilversum
is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...
in Holland
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
by Willem Dudok (1928–30) was considered significant enough to earn him a RIBA
Riba
Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...
Gold Medal in 1935.
The architect
The 218 competitors were asked to submit designs for a council chamber, committee rooms, administrative offices and a multi-purpose hall with seating for 800 to 1,000 people, complete with an upper gallery, for no more than £100,000. The character of the building ‘should be dignified and indicate its purpose’, rather than boast ‘elaborate decoration and detail which is not required’.In October 1933 the £150 prize and the job of building the Town Hall was awarded to Reginald Harold Uren, a 27 year old ‘modern’ architect who had won the Manchester Trades Exhibition competition earlier that year. He had come to London from his native Christchurch, New Zealand in 1930, to train at the Bartlett. By the time he had completed the Town Hall in 1935, Uren had joined the firm of Slater and Moberly (later Slater & Hodnett, and now the Slater Partnership).
During the 1930s his firm undertook a number of commissions, notably the extension to the Hospital for Nervous Diseases in Queen Square, Bloomsbury. In 1938 he settled in a house he designed himself in Kerry Avenue, Stanmore and became a strong supporter of the Stanmore Society. Designs for the new town hall in Southall were abandoned because of the war. His design for Ruislip-Northwood was never executed because of the re-organisation of the GLC. In 1968 his firm’s design for the impressive Norfolk County Hall at Norwich was successfully completed. Its careful brick detail, unusual at the time, can perhaps be traced back to Uren’s early experience at Hornsey. Likewise, the concern to integrate architecture and other arts, demonstrated early on at Hornsey, remained a preoccupation in post-war work.
Uren was a member of the RIBA standing committee on art, and his interest is illustrated both by his firm’s large building for John Lewis in Oxford Street (1960–66) with exterior sculpture by Barbara Hepworth and by the showrooms for Sandersons nearby in Berners Street (1957–61). He was the first recipient of the New Zealand award of merit for architecture. He returned to New Zealand on his retirement, and lived there until his death on 17 March 1988.
The opening of the Town Hall
The Town Hall was built between 1934 and 35, and opened on 4 November 1935 in a ceremony attended by the Duke and Duchess of Kent. The council had modified the design to retain the grass and trees in front rather than devote the whole space to car parking. Early comments on the building were mixed, with some local journalists comparing its appearance to that of a jam factory. Council officials reported some members of the public as mistaking the building for Turnpike Lane underground station. The Hornsey Journal (November 1935), claimed that ‘the architect deserves thanks for boldly breaking away from the deadly classicism of the Victorian public building’. The Royal Institute of British Architects recognised the quality of the design and awarded the building a bronze medal for the best London building erected during the three years ending in December 1935.The Town Hall fulfilled its intended function for the next thirty years. The London Government Act created the GLC in 1965, widening the reach of London.
The design of Hornsey Town Hall
Hornsey Town Hall, designed by RH Uren in 1933, forms the centrepiece of an architectural composition with the Broadway House and Annexe. These three buildings were laid out so as to enclose a public square leading off the main shopping street. The architectural style of the complex projected a statement by a prosperous modern borough seeking to forge a distinctive identity for itself in the capital. The complex is now a monument to a style of local government that has been on the decline since the 1960s. Until the Gas Showrooms was converted into a bank by Barclays, the combination of a Town Hall – a symbol of progressive local government, flanked by the gas and electric utilities, was unique. United by the use of brick and sculptural decoration by A J Ayres, it was a calm and dignified statement of twentieth-century ideals, facing the flurry of the Victorian shopping centre.Uren had dispensed with the well established symmetric approach hitherto adopted by Town Halls in a notable departure from the tradition of English municipal buildings. Regular compositions with classical porticos were the norm as, for example that of Worthing Town Hall, designed in 1930 by C. Cowles-Voysey. Voysey was the RIBA-appointed assessor of the design competition Uren won in 1933.
Uren took a modern approach. By separating the functional areas and grouping them loosely together, he pioneered an informal planning approach also found at Greenwich Town Hall (1938-9). As Voysey noted at the time, ‘The winning design admirably fits the site and is cleverly designed to make the best of the difficult shape’. Uren had grasped the simple fact ‘that ceremonial areas did not expand but offices did’.
The building is set back as far as possible to give the approach some dignity and to provide essential parking space. The dual function as a public hall and council offices is clearly expressed. The public hall to the north is distinguished by the elongated windows of the foyer, above a generous triple entrance. The ceremonial balcony on the floor above gives the entrance horizontal emphasis. The council offices are approached by a smaller but more decorative footway at the foot of the staircase tower. The council chamber, projecting to the south, is reached by means of a handsome staircase and spacious central corridor, while the offices are arranged compactly around an inner courtyard at the back, to avoid overlooking the neighbouring properties.
The appearance of the exterior with its plain surfaces of specially chosen small bricks, with its dominating tower and elongated windows with pronounced keystones, pays direct homage to the Town Hall at Hilversum (1928–30) by W.M.Dudok, who was awarded a RIBA Gold Medal in 1935. Dudok cited the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright. Key aspects of this design were echoed in many buildings of the period, particularly those constructed by Middlesex County Council. Hornsey Town Hall is not simply a replica of Hilversum Town Hall - it was innovative in its own right and also unusual for the quantity of sculpture (by A.J.Ayres, commissioned by Uren). Uren softened the severity of Dudok’s brick style with Ayres’s carved stone lintel and the generous use of ornamental metalwork.
Much attention was also given to the interior finishes, in which plan and function took precedence over design, and ornament was eliminated in favour of a ‘machine aesthetic’ in which the nature of modern materials – glass, concrete, steel – could be honestly expressed. Such influences are strongly apparent in the staircase of Ashton marble and in the main rooms, which are panelled in a variety of fine woods. All survive remarkably complete, even down to the original furniture and drapery (designed by Uren himself and made by Heals) and the cork-tiled floors, thanks to the care taken by the property department and successive facilities managers.
Future plans
On 26 April 2011, Haringey Council's cabinet approved plans for the refurbishment of the building as premises for Mountview Academy of Theatre ArtsMountview Academy of Theatre Arts
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts is an independent drama school situated in the Wood Green area of North London. It was founded in 1945 by Peter Coxhead and Ralph Nossek as 'The Mountview Theatre Club', an amateur repertory company staging a new production for a six-day run every second week...
by 2014, however a planning application must be submitted and English Heritage approval granted before work may start on the development. The building will be refurbished in a £19 million project and is expected to include two new performance venues.