Municipal building in Widnes, Cheshire, England
Widnes Town Hall is a municipal building in Victoria Road in Widnes, Cheshire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Widnes Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.[1]
History
After significant industrial growth in the second half of the 19th century, particularly in relation to the chemical industry, members of the local board of health decided to procure a town hall: the site they selected had been open land in what was then little more than a village established close to the Gossage chemical works.[2]
The new building, which was designed by F. and G. Holme in the Renaissance style and built with terracotta dressings, was completed in 1885.[1] After the building became the headquarters of the new municipal borough of Widnes in 1892,[3][4] King George V visited the building and met with civic leaders on 7 July 1913.[5] However, the building ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Borough of Halton was formed in 1974.[6]
In 1982 the building became the home of the Halton Chemical Industry Museum, a temporary exhibition funded by the Manpower Services Commission to celebrate the centenary of the Society of Chemical Industry.[7] As well as chemical industry exhibits, there were also displays dealing with other aspects of local history.[8] The success of the exhibition led to the formation of the Museum of the Chemical Industry (subsequently renamed the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre) at Gossage House in Widnes in 1989.[9] The town hall then became the home of the Halton Business Forum, a provider of support to local businesses.[10] The forum also relocated, in around 2004, to the new Forum Building at Widnes Waterfront, which had been established as the Borough's economic development zone.[11][12]
The town hall was then left empty and deteriorating,[13] until a developer, Stephen Lawler, acquired the building, and carried out some limited restoration works.[14] Although the rear of the ground floor and the whole of the first floor were left undeveloped and unoccupied,[15] the front part of the ground floor re-opened as a bar and night club known as "The Establishment".[16]
Description
The building is in the Renaissance style, with terracotta dressings. The design involves a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto Victoria Square with the end bays slightly projecting forward; the central bay, which also slightly projects forward, features a doorway with brackets supporting an open pediment containing a carved tympanum.[1] The doorway is flanked by twin pilasters supporting griffins bearing shields; there is a central sash window on the first floor and a smaller sash window on the attic floor, above which there is an inscription "MDCCCLXXXV" (1885).[1]
