Accrington Town Hall, Accrington, Lancashire

Summary

Town hall, originally built as the Peel Institution in 1857, by James Green of Todmorden with clerk of works T Birtwhistle, classical style.

Description

Town hall, originally built as the Peel Institution in 1857, by James Green of Todmorden with clerk of works T Birtwhistle, classical style.

MATERIALS: buff sandstone with roof of blue slate and lead.

PLAN: prominently sited in a piazza and aligned approximately east-west, of seven by three bays with a northern outshut, small north-east stair tower and prostyle portico.

EXTERIOR: the hall is of two storeys with an ashlar projecting plinth, moulded sill bands, rusticated ground floor, moulded string course, ashlar first floor, entablature and balustraded parapet, and rusticated quoins.

The front faces south and is symmetrical, with a central porte-cochere surmounted by a deep, hexastyle, pedimented portico. The porte-cochere has arches to the front and each side; these and the ground-floor windows are round-headed and have v-jointed, rusticated, voussoired surrounds with slightly pendant keystones. The keystone of the central arch has a helmeted female head (probably Athena). This arch is flanked by garlanded roundels. The portico has Corinthian columns which are coupled on the front and return at the corners, and are linked by a balustrade. Behind the portico, coupled Corinthian pilasters flank a Venetian window. The other first-floor windows are segmental-headed, with sill balustrades and open segmental pediments supported by consoles. The stringcourse has lion heads.

The side returns have very similar detailing but in ashlar throughout and without the parapet balustrade. Attached at the north-east corner is a single-bay, three-storey tower. This is slightly recessed and has similar detailing, with a five-stepped entrance with round arched door surround surmounted by the Accrington arms, tripartite window above and top-floor Venetian window. At the right the wall returns forward and has quoins but no façade. The north and west walls of the tower are rendered.

The north wall of the hall is of coursed squared stone. At the left the tower masks the jambs of windows. Central in the wall is a two-storey, three-bay outshut, also in coursed squared stone, with hipped slate roof. Its east side is largely blind and its north-east corner canted, with a blocked ground-floor window. Each bay of the north wall has a nine-pane ground-floor and twelve-pane first-floor sash window. Attached between bays 2 and 3 is a square brick chimney. At the right the outshut is abutted by the (not included) extension. The west wall of the outshut is rebuilt in stone with small windows to each of three floors.

Attached to the rear left corner of the building and fronting Broadway is a mid-1960s extension that is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.

INTERIOR: the porte-cochere and portico both have decorative plaster ceilings, with decorative light fittings in the porte-cochere. The interior is also little-altered with extensive decorative plasterwork and joinery throughout. A small vestibule to the main entrance is modern. The entrance and stair hall has mosaic floors including the Accrington coat of arms and emblems, and an imperial staircase with mahogany newels and handrails, and foliated iron balusters. To the west are the council chamber with C20 furnishings and gallery, and the mayor’s parlour with fire surround and grate, and mirrored overmantel. To the east are public rooms retaining most of their original features.

The stair hall has a decorative domed skylight and niche with a bust of Peel. The whole first floor is an assembly room with a coved ceiling and rich plaster and timber decoration in late-C17 style. The west end has an inserted modern stage with bar to its rear.

The basement retains its stone-flag floor and several features of interest including a former scullery with original sash window (bricked in externally), gaslight fitting, stone sink and fireplace; at least one other stone fireplace also survives in another room.

History

Accrington Town Hall was originally built as the Peel Institution, begun in 1857. The Peel family were the biggest employers in the district, and after the death of Sir Robert Peel (1788 to 1850) an appeal for a memorial raised over £1,000. Peel (the son of a Bury textile manufacturer) became recognised as one of the most liberal and reforming prime ministers of the C19, father of the modern police force and reformer of the justice system, champion of free trade, supporter of the Factory Act and repealer of the Corn Laws. The Peel Institution, Market and Baths Company raised a further £10,000 (including a mortgage) and used the funds to build the Peel Institution. The building was leased to a mechanics’ institute, and served as a public hall and a news room; the planned market hall and baths were not built by the company.

The building was bought by the local board of health in 1864 and became a de facto town hall, and also housed court functions from the early 1860s. In 1878 the Borough of Accrington was incorporated with this as its centre of operations. The mosaic in the entrance hall displaying the Borough’s arms and motto presumably dates from after these were granted in 1879.

The north-east stair turret appears to be an addition as its wall masks rear window jambs. The projecting quoins on the north-east corner suggest that it might have been designed with further northward extension in mind, or possibly (and less likely) that it was originally slightly longer to the north, and a portion was demolished before the first Ordnance Survey (OS) town plan in 1892 (which shows these quoins, due to the large scale of 1:1,056).

In the 1914 drive to raise a ‘pals’ battalion from the area Accrington’s recruiting station was in Willow Street school, but the town hall was given as the address for enquiries (Captain John Harwood who raised the battalion was mayor at the time).

After the Second World War, the town hall was marked for retention by the authors of the 1950 town plan, as ‘the most arresting piece of architectural drama which Accrington has to offer’, although it was suggested that its rear would need to be altered due to proposals for the area to the north. However, it was not until the mid-late 1960s that an extension was built (the extension is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing). The northern outshut of the town hall was altered to provide direct access into the extension.

In the 1980s the council chamber was refurbished in a modern style. The town hall was listed at Grade II* in 1984. Since then (to 2022) there have been some minor alterations to the ground floor plan of the main building, including a small vestibule to the front doors, and a stage has been inserted in the ballroom on the first floor, with a bar to its rear.

James Green (1822-1886) was a partner in a coal mine and a cotton spinning mill as well as an architect. After concentrating on commercial pursuits in the late 1840s he resumed practise in 1851, designing the Mechanics’ Institute in Burnley (Grade II*, National Heritage List for England – NHLE - entry 1244905) before designing this building for a similar purpose. He also designed Burnley’s Aenon Baptist Chapel (NHLE 1245021) and the Church of St Stephen (NHLE 1245002). He lived in Todmorden but by 1876 had opened an office in Manchester. Three of Manchester’s leading architects (Edward Salomons, Alfred Waterhouse and Thomas Worthington) proposed his fellowship of the RIBA, which was awarded in 1866.

Reasons for Listing

Accrington Town Hall, a former mechanics’ institute of 1857 built in memory of Sir Robert Peel, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* this is an exceptionally dignified and grand mechanics’ institute by a well-regarded architect of several listed buildings, and ideally suited to its later use as a town hall, which is reflected in particular in the entrance-hall mosaic floor containing the corporation’s arms and emblems;
* the building is a particularly elaborate example of the numerous public monuments to Sir Robert Peel (2nd Bart) and retains a bust of him on the main stair;
* it is relatively little-altered and retains much original late-C17 style interior decoration, as well as lower-status but important features such as the service interiors in the cellar.

External Links

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