Surrey County Hall, with lamp standards outside the southern entrance block, cobbled southern quadrangle, western terrace and cobbled forecourt to Milner Road, Kingston upon Thames, London

Summary

Surrey County Hall, built in 1890-1893 for Surrey County Council to designs by CH Howell, and enlarged in 1928-1930 and 1938 by ranges by E Vincent Harris, with additional rebuilding and further ranges constructed in 1950-1953, 1961 and 1963. The 1980-1981 computer wing is excluded from the listing.

Description

Former county hall, built in 1890-1893 for Surrey County Council to designs by CH Howell, with external sculpture by Farmer and Brindley; the contractors were Messrs Higgs and Hill. The building was subsequently enlarged in 1928-1930 by ranges by E Vincent Harris, with additional rebuilding and further ranges constructed in 1950-1953, 1961 and 1963, by the Surrey County Architect’s Department. The more than special interest of the site is particularly concentrated within the pre-Second World War sections. The 1980-1981 computer wing to the north is excluded from the listing.

PLAN: the 1890-1893 range is roughly square on plan, facing Penrhyn Road; this part of the building has a central courtyard. The 1928-1930 addition extends southwards along Penrhyn Road, before turning the corner westwards. This range is extended seamlessly by the 1938 extension, which then turns the corner northwards along Milner Road. The 1950-1953 rebuilt Ashcombe Wing, replacing a 1930s block, extends westwards from the south-west corner of the 1890-1893 range; the southern quadrangle is completed by the 1961 extension of this range. The 1963 range extends further along Milner Road, parallel with the 1890-1893 range, with this northern quadrangle being completed by the excluded computer range*, running along The Bittoms.

MATERIALS: the 1890-1893 range is faced with Portland stone, with slate roofs and panelled stone stacks; the windows have stone mullions, the majority of the openings containing timber single-light sash frames. The internal lightwell is lined with glazed bricks.

The later ranges, dating from between 1928 and 1963, are also faced with Portland stone, the majority having hipped roofs with platformed tops. There are tall stone stacks. The gutters are incorporated in the stone eaves cornices. The windows have multi-pane sash frames with ovolo-moulded glazing bars. Lead rainwater-goods feature heraldic motifs.

EXTERIOR: Howell’s original 1890-1893 range is in an eclectic, lavishly-detailed Renaissance style with a varied outline and footprint, arranged over two and three storeys. To the south a tall clock tower rises above the main entrance, its open belfry having carved figures of the four seasons seated at the feet of the volute buttresses, supporting a gadrooned ogee dome with an elongated copper finial. The entrance is protected by a rusticated stone porch with features including a swagged cartouche in the balustrade, containing the arms of Kingston, Guildford, and the Warenne family, Earls of Guildford, with the date ‘1893’. The double doors have twelve small square panels each, below a geometric fanlight. To the south of this is a three-storey bay with tripartite windows, the attic storey contained by a Dutch gable with a segmental pediment, the royal coat of arms carved between volutes. To the north of the tower the central portion of the range has three Venetian windows at first-floor level, the arched openings surmounted by cartouches containing the arms of Kingston, flanked by the reclining figures of Law and Liberty, Peace and Plenty, and Justice and Mercy, with paired ground-floor windows; the bays are divided by complex banded pilasters incorporating cartouches with the arms of Guildford, Godalming, Reigate and Richmond, and niches, topped by urn finials which punctuate a balustrade. To the north of this is a prominent projecting three-storey section with paired arched attic windows within a Dutch gable with a triangular pediment, the paired arched attic windows set between pilasters below a swagged frieze. At first-floor level is an oriel window with a gadrooned lower part supported on carved arms. The north-east corner is marked by a short polygonal tower with an octagonal open belfry below an ogee dome. The north elevation is more restrained, and is principally of two storeys with a tall, rusticated ground floor, and a balustrade, broken by a three-storey section below a Dutch gable. To the north is a recessed first-floor balcony framed by two arches, above two square blind openings. The tall rusticated ground floor continues round to the east elevation, now facing into the north quadrangle, with square openings representing the former cells within. The eastern range has a hipped roof, and a projecting central section with a large gable containing the royal coat of arms. Below, the first floor is occupied by a shallow oriel, with a four-light window lighting the committee room. There is a doorway to the central section, originally providing access to the cells. A doorway projecting from the northern end of this section was the private entrance for officials connected with the court; this doorway has a porch with stone below and glazed wrought-iron above.

Harris’s 1928-1930 additions present a balanced frontage to Penryhn Road, in line with the 1890-1893 range, with a wide central entrance block flanked by projections. This entrance block is of three storeys, beneath a hipped roof with a platformed top surrounded by a parapet; a balustrade has been removed. The ground floor is rusticated. The central door opening has a bolection-moulded surround carved with a double guilloche pattern; the doorway breaks into the first floor, with a pierced stone screen to the tympanum, surrounded by elongated voussoirs creating a parabolic form. Above the doorway is a medallion containing the seal of Surrey County Council: a trefoil with the arms of Kingston, Guildford, and the Warenne family, with the date 1889. Behind the panelled double doors is a shallow panelled lobby, with an overdoor carved and painted with the royal arms. There are two windows to either side of the doorway: those to the ground floor are arched, with those at first-floor level being square-headed within surrounds with elongated friezes below moulded cornices. The second-floor windows have no surrounds; two openings are set above the doorway at this level. To north and south are additional ground-floor window openings – a small square opening above a rectangular one – the bay above remaining blind. Recessed links with corresponding features join the central block with the projecting sections. To the north, this intersects with the 1890-1893 range, the fenestration of the addition reflecting that of the central block, with a segmental-pedimented dormer rising above the south face, creating a correspondence with the Classically-detailed 1890-1893 stack behind. This block is repeated to the south, where it adjoins the shouldered gable end of the 1930 southern range, topped by a segmental-pediment; the elevation is framed by pilaster quoins, above which obelisks sit on the shoulders of the gable. The gable has a window set in a complex round-arched surround, fronted by a curved wrought-iron balcony. The southern range, which now continues seamlessly from the 1928-1930 section to the 1938 section (the original western gable end, mirroring that to the east, was lost as a result of the extension), is of three storeys with attic, the fenestration continuing as on the eastern frontage, resulting in a long ground-floor arcade to the south. There is a row of dormer windows, and at either end the penultimate bay projects slightly, topped by a segmental-pedimented dormer. On the western elevation, facing Milner Road, a further long range follows the same pattern – though at second-floor level the windows appear only in alternate bays – flanked by hipped three-bay ‘pavilions’ formed by the ends of the west/east oriented ranges, with central doorways. In this elevation, the sawtooth roof – designed to capture north light for the drawing office below – is hidden behind the parapet. The basement, which runs along the western ranges, is protected by a stone balustrade, with bridges to the entrances; an original ramp running beside the area steps provided access to bicycle storage.

Within the southern quadrangle, the rear of the central main building recalls the design of its eastern elevation, with a large arched stair-window taking the place of the doorway. At ground-floor level, on either side of this window, an arched window is flanked by vertically-arranged rectangular openings, with doorways to the north and south. Neither first- nor second-floor windows have surrounds. A stone balcony with balustrade, on large voluted brackets, enriched with acanthus, runs almost the length of the building below the second-floor windows. On the inward-facing, north elevation of the southern range, the range’s east-facing gable end is repeated at the junction with the entrance block. Thereafter, the range continues in a manner similar to that on the southern elevation, but lacking the first-floor window surrounds, and with two tiers of dormers; there is a central doorway with intermediate windows reflecting the stair to the east. The western range is similar, though on the second floor the windows appear only in alternate bays, after the second bay.

The Ashcombe Wing, rebuilt in 1953, is represented by a five-bay projecting section and has the rusticated ground floor seen elsewhere, with its arcade of windows; above, the first- and second-storey windows are enclosed by double-height surrounds, reflecting the form of those in the Vincent Harris buildings. Within are multi-pane, metal-framed windows. To the east, a two-storey section of the same date links with the south-east corner of the 1890-1893 range. To the west of the Ashcombe Wing, the 1960s extension has a rusticated ground floor with square-headed openings, including the high-level square openings found throughout the complex. In the upper floors, only the central first-floor window has a surround. The roof above has two tiers of dormers, the roof form extending over the earlier Ashcombe Wing. A large opening, flanked by smaller openings, provides vehicular and pedestrian access to the north quadrangle. Within the north quadrangle, the two parts of this central range – 1950s and 1960s – are uniform, with an arcaded rusticated ground floor, and surrounds to alternate windows at first-floor level.

The 1963 western range continues the Classical idiom of the earlier extensions, but further stripped of detail. The western elevation rises three storeys over the basement, with two tiers of dormers; the range is of thirteen bays, the northernmost bay being blind. The central bay is marked by a stone balustraded balcony to the first-floor window; the first-floor window in the central bay to either side is marked by a triangular-pedimented surround. The basement is protected by a plain iron balustrade. On the north elevation, the central window has a segmental-pedimented surround. On the east elevation, facing the north quadrangle, the ground-floor windows are arched, with plain keystones.

INTERIOR: within the 1890—1893 section, the lobby formed by the porch has dado panelling and panelling to the arched window openings. The round-headed internal doorway has a granite surround with the royal coat of arms carved in timber above glazed double doors. The large entrance hall has geometric marble mosaic flooring by Messrs Burke & Co of Newman Street, London, which is also found throughout the public circulation spaces on the ground and first floors; here the floor has a Greek key pattern border, and a central monogram of the letters ‘SCC’. A screen of Doric polished granite columns denotes a passageway to the west, beyond which rises the principal stair. The hall has half-height panelling, with commemorative boards above naming members of Parliament for Surrey since AD 1290, and Surrey High Sheriffs. Doorways here and in the principal spaces on the first floor have eared surrounds with a pulvinated frieze below the cornice; a central panel breaking the frieze may announce the room use. Large rooms to either side of the entrance hall have cast-iron columns – the original clerks’ office to the south-east, and a store to the south-west. A subsidiary stair in the south-west corner of the building was removed by Vincent Harris in 1928-1930 to allow a corridor to run between the original building and his new extension. To the north, the passage gives access to a series of east-facing offices, some retaining panelled doorways and ceiling beams; a marble chimneypiece complete with tiles and grate survives in the former Treaurer's office to the south. The polygonal corner tower, here as on the first floor, is occupied by WCs. The north-western part of the ground floor is occupied by a row of 10 holding cells, formerly for male prisoners; each is lit by its high-level square window, together with an original glazed embrasure designed to hold an electric light-bulb, accessed from the corridor. The cells retain their original timber doors with peep-holes, framed blackboards and locks, and their internal benches. The iron grille enclosing the end of the corridor was added due to the use of the area for filming, together with some other modifciations. To the south is the warder’s room, retaining some original joinery. To the south-east is the area formerly occupied by cells for female prisoners, the majority of the cell divisions now having been removed for conversion to archive storage; the former female warders’ room retains timber partitions installed by Vincent Harris to create an interview room for defendants to speak to their counsel and family. In the north corner of the eastern projection is a stair serving the court, accessed from the officials’ entrance; this has a wrought-iron balustrade and polished stone panelling.

The stair hall has a barrel vault, in line with the Serliana which forms a screen to the first-floor hall, its arch supported on marble columns. The open-well stair, with a stone balustrade and panelling, is lit by a large arched window giving on to the central lightwell; the 1950 window, made by G Maile and Son Ltd, depicting St George and the dragon, commemorates the ‘courage and fortitude’ of the people of Surrey during the Second World War, and ‘those who made the supreme sacrifice’. Plaques affixed within the stairwell commemorate those who served, and fell, in the Boer and First World Wars. The central portion of the balustrade protecting the first-floor hall from the stair hall appears to have been replaced, following the removal of a statue of Queen Victoria, in place from 1903 to 1928. The long hall is lit by the three Venetian windows at the centre of the frontage, and has a mosaic floor, together with a frieze of plasterwork panels and a compartmented ceiling with dentil mouldings. The corridor running along the south side of the stair hall gives access to the council chamber in the south-west corner of the range, which retains its original seating, consisting of curved benches upholstered in leather, arranged in a horseshoe shape around fixed screens. Along the west side of the chamber is a dais, protected by a panelled screen, on which is set an enclosed high-backed chair with columns and urn finials carved with arms and with the date ‘1893’. The room retains its panelling, rising behind the dais. Ionic pilasters rise against the upper part of the walls to the compartmented ceiling. A gallery with a panelled front runs across the east side of the chamber, supported on fluted square columns. A disused stair leads from the cells to the centre of the council chamber, suggesting that the room was intended for possible use as a court, and is known to have served this function in the late C20. The north-west corner of the range is occupied by the court room, which retains much original joinery, some of which has been subject to rearrangement and alteration. The dais remains to the west, and the gallery to the east, with fixed benches in the centre of the room. However, the creation in about 1928 of an additional court room immediately to the east saw the reconfiguration of the stair from the cells below, and led to rearrangment within the original court room with a new dock being formed towards the rear of the room to connect with the stair. Recent use for filming has led to further temporary alterations, including the raising of the panelling, and installation of a large aedicule behind the judge’s chair, the chair being similar to that in the council chamber. Doric pilasters rise against the upper part of the walls to a compartmented ceiling with dentil mouldings and decorative plasterwork. The panelled committee room, overlooking the northern quadrangle, has a coved ceiling and a marble chimneypiece with Jacobean detailing, retaining its grate and tiled surround. Chimneypieces remain to some other first-floor rooms, including that formerly allocated to the Clerk of the Peace, in the south-east corner of the range, which has its own lavatory and WC retaining original fittings including a panelled partition. Sanitary facilities at the south end of the eastern projection retain features including tiling, mosaic flooring, a run of washbasins fitted in a marble top, and a row of urinals, the fittings apparently replaced during the circa 1928 alterations. The area in the north-east corner of the range, containing the former Grand Jury room and Grand Jury witnesses’ room in the north-east corner of the range, has seen some reconfiguration. At the northern end of the range are the former witnesses’ room and female witnesses’ room; each has its own WC, one with original fittings, whilst the female witnesses’ room was fronted by the balcony, and has a skylight. In the north-east corner of the range is the second-floor flat originally intended for the caretaker; this retains some modest features including a straight stair with stick balusters, a chimneypiece, and fitted cupboards.

Within the main block of Harris’s 1928-1930 additions, the entrance hall is stone-lined and pilastered with mutules to the cornice, and arms carved above the doorways. The stone floor of the entrance hall extends into the axial corridor which runs from the 1890-1893 range, and through the main block and links to the southern range. Within this block, the ground floor has seen some reconfiguration and detailing is limited to features such as glazed doors with simple moulded surrounds, and tall skirtings. The ceremonial and higher-status rooms are on the first and second floors; the first floor is reached by an Imperial stair opening from the entrance hall; the blue-painted wrought-iron handrail has gilded details and a scrolling brass handrail, incorporating an owl’s head – the significance of this is not known. The heraldry of the stair window, by The Guildford Glass Works, combines the seal of Surrey County Council, with the arms of Godalming, Guildford, Richmond, Wimbledon, Kingston upon Thames, and Reigate. In the cornice to the landing, mutules are combined with wreathed laurel. Along the eastern elevation, the former conference room has been divided to provide a number of smaller rooms. At the north end of the block, the former Chairman of the Council’s office is a small room fully panelled with burr walnut, the coved cornice richly carved with acanthus and forget-me-nots; acanthus also ornaments the eared door-surround. On the west elevation, the northern committee room remains intact with panelling and a complex timber coffered ceiling containing panel painted with the arms of the districts and boroughs forming part of Surrey in 1930. To the south, what was originally another committee room has been altered to provide an office with private WC and lobby; this room is also fully panelled (the pine panelling having undergone some reconfiguration), with an arched alcove to either side of a fireplace with a bolection-moulded surround carved with acanthus. In the link blocks are WC facilities: those to the north retain original chequered stone flooring and stone wall lining, together with original sanitary equipment and other fittings. On the second floor, the former panelled members’ dining room, originally a single large space, has been divided by the insertion of panels between the paired central pillars to create an axial corridor. The former judges’ dining room, in the northern link block, survives intact with its panelling.

The office accommodation in the 1930 southern range is shown in a plan published that year as having been largely open plan, with a double row of square columns running along the centre of the range. In some areas, pressed-steel partitions made by the manufacturer Roneo Ltd were used to form corridors, and probably some flanking rooms, as well as private sections for the heads of departments. However, it is probable that in 1938, when the range was extended, more permanent divisions were retrofitted in the existing offices, as well as being erected in the extension.The partitions follow a formula, having doorcases with a bolection moulding, frieze and cornice; a moulding links the tops of the doorcases with the columns – now appearing as pilasters – above which is a horizontal panel, frequently glazed. The office doors have a raised and fielded panel below and glazed panel above. This pattern is repeated, with some modification, on the upper floors, and within the later office ranges of 1938 and 1963; within the 1963 range the quailty of the detailing is reduced. Glazed double doors in moulded architraves punctuate the corridors, and provide access to stairwells. The stairs in these ranges have simple metal balustrades, those in the earlier sections being more substantial with minimal but bold detailing. Within these ranges, the level of alteration varies, with many spaces having later partitioning and false ceilings; some modern bathroom facilities have been installed. Within the attic spaces of the southern ranges, the roof trusses are visible, with rooflights above.

Within the Ashcombe Wing, the ground-floor space is treated in a manner similar to that of the office ranges. On the first floor, the southern windows light the double-height Ashcombe Room. This room has bold fluted pilasters between the windows and on the opposite wall; both these and the coffered ceiling have a somewhat Art Deco character. Panelled radiator covers are fitted around the room, with pleated fabric covering the walls above. To the north, the committee room has full-height panelling with darker panels; this room has a jack-arched roof. The ante room to the south has a framed rooflight.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: to either side of the doorway to the 1928-1930 entrance block are cast iron lamp standards with globe lanterns. The southern quadrangle is cobbled with granite setts, radiating from a central grassed oval. The area to the west of the western ranges, along Milner Road, is also cobbled, contained within a granite kerb. A stone terrace or pavement runs in front of the 1938 range on this elevation.

* Pursuant to s1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the Act') it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

Surrey County Council was established in 1889 under the provisions of the Local Government Act of 1888. The newly-formed Council took over the administrative duties of the Justices of the Peace in Quarter Sessions; as a result of changes in county boundaries, Surrey’s Court of Quarter Sessions in Newington now fell within the new county of London, and Surrey therefore needed a new administrative home. Designs for the new County Hall in Kingston were prepared by CH Howell, County Surveyor from 1860-1893, and were approved in 1890. Charles Henry Howell (1823/24-1905) was best known for his numerous lunatic asylums, designed in his role as Architect to the Lunacy Commissioners; he was also Surveyor to the Norwich Union Insurance Company, and designed a number of churches and private houses. The County Hall, in eclectic Renaissance style, reflects the civic pride of the new County Council, and appears to have given Howell an opportunity to produce a more exuberant design than was generally required for asylum architecture. The building’s external sculpture was by Farmer and Brindley, the leading firm of architectural sculptors established in the 1860s, and particularly favoured by the architects Alfred Waterhouse and Sir George Gilbert Scott. Building work commenced at the end of 1890, and was completed in 1893; the County Hall opened in November of that year.

Modification of the building was considered during the early years of the C20, with plans being prepared by Henry Hare in 1914 for an extension, but no action was taken due to the outbreak of the First World War. A detached office building constructed to the west in 1921 was destroyed by bombing in 1940. In 1927/8, E Vincent Harris was appointed to draw up plans for an extension that ‘should link up with the old, forming a complete architectural whole’. Selected from a group of four possible architects of whom the others were W A Ansell, W Curtis Green and Maurice Webb, Emanuel Vincent Harris (1876-1971) was a pre-eminent designer of public buildings during the first part of the C20, building generally in a Classically-informed style and demonstrating an expertise in planning. His work at Surrey County Hall greatly expanded the overall scale of the site, his contribution forming the basis of what would become a courtyard scheme with a neo-Classical grandeur which acknowledges but does not attempt to emulate the original building. Harris’s L-plan addition was constructed from 1928, extending the southern frontage of the building, provided new committee and meeting rooms with dining rooms, as well as extensive office space. However, before the 1928-1930 extension was completed, it was clear that a second extension would be required; by 1934, 623 staff were working in the County Hall, by contrast with the 20 recorded in 1890. In 1938, therefore, Harris extended his southern wing, turning the corner to create a three-sided southern quadrangle. The quadrangle was nearly closed by an addition to the south-west corner of the 1890 building; named the Ashcombe Wing for Lord Ashcombe, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, under whose committee leadership the first extensions were built, this was a distinctive building with a bow frontage to the quadrangle, but was destroyed beyond repair by Second World War bombing in 1944. Scarring caused by shell fragments remain on the surviving buildings as a reminder of this event, and of two hits in 1940. The Ashcombe Wing was rebuilt, to a differing plan, in 1950-1953.

By 1954, the number of Council staff working at the County Hall had risen to 900; the need for additional space was addressed by the completion of the southern quadrangle in 1961, together with the addition of a vertical extension to the Ashcombe Wing. A further range was built in 1963 to the north-west along Milner Road, creating a second, incomplete, quadrangle. Both phases of work are understood to have been the responsibility of the County Architect’s Department. A computer range built by the County Architect's Department in 1980-1981, completing the northern quadrangle is not included in the listing.

Kingston became a London borough in 1965, with the result that Surrey’s County Hall was no longer in Surrey, but depite proposals for a move to an alternative site no such move was made at that time. Court activity ceased at Surrey County Hall in 1996, when Kingston upon Thames Crown Court was constructed to the north of the of the site. In early 2021, Surrey County Council moved its headquarters to Reigate. The Kingston building is currently (2021) empty.

Reasons for Listing

Surrey County Hall, built in 1890-1893 for Surrey County Council to designs by CH Howell, and enlarged in 1928-1930 and 1938 by ranges by E Vincent Harris, with additional rebuilding and further ranges constructed in 1950-1953, 1961 and 1963, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the 1890-1893 range survives very substantially intact as a late-C19 civic building of high quality;
* for its exuberant and eclectic exterior, enriched by fine figurative and armorial sculpture by the distinguished firm of Farmer and Brindley;
* the interior survives as a particularly complete example of a municipal building of this date, with imposing public spaces, and rooms devoted to specific functions;
* despite some reconfiguration the court room remains a very good late-C19 court, with gallery, functionally connected spaces, and stair to cells;
* the surviving suite of cells is of unusual interest, retaining rare original timber doors, as well as early electric lighting;
* the layout and planning of the building is illustrative of its function, with separate entrances, stairs, corridors and rooms for members of the public, judges and defendants, varying status being reflected in the quality and style of finish;
* the 1930s extensions by E Vincent Harris, the leading architect of public buildings, represent a subtle and inventive response to the Victorian county hall, the entrance building containing interiors of high quality using good materials;
* the double courtyard plan created by the evolution of the site has a palatial dignity, felt particularly in the southern courtyard.

Historic interest:

* as one of the few purpose-built county halls constructed immediately following the 1888 Local Government Act, the imposing building expresses pride in the status and unity of the county and its newly-formed council, as well as demonstrating the combined administrative functions of the building type.

External Links

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