Description

ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA

SP3165NE PARADE
1208-1/7/293 (East side)
18/08/80 Town Hall

GV II

Municipal buildings. 1882-84 with later additions and
alterations. Architect, John Cundall; building contractor,
John Fell of Leamington. Stained glass by Holt of Warwick and
carving and sculpture by Boulton of Cheltenham.
Pinkish-red brick with sandstone ashlar dressings and Welsh
slate roof, partly fish-scaled. 'Alderman's Renaissance'
style, incorporating Tudor and French baroque elements.
PLAN: double-depth with central hallway; full-width ballroom
to first-floor at left with full-width council chamber to
first-floor at right; 2 storeys with attic to centre, 5 bays
of which the two end and centre bays project, and with tower
to south approximately 44 metres high.
EXTERIOR: central projecting portico to ground floor has
banded pillars surmounted by balustrade. First floor: pairs of
Tuscan pilasters clasp angles of outer bays. Above portico,
paired Corinthian columns to ends of centre bay with single
columns between windows, decorated frieze with masks,
surmounted by central upshot between obelisks and further
pedimented upshot.
Ground floor: entrance, steps to double, part-glazed, panelled
doors recessed within ornate, round-arched surround. 2- and
3-light mullion and transom windows with banded pilasters
between.
First floor, outer bays: to left a tripartite, round-arched
window with 4/4 sashes and decorative glazing to heads; to
right a 5-sided oriel with mullion and two levels of transoms
between 2-light mullion and transom windows with two levels of
transoms. Otherwise 1-, 2- and 3-light mullion and transom
windows, that to centre with swan-neck pediment.
Attic stage: blind to outer bays which are surmounted by
decorative pedimented upshots with obelisks.
To centre 3 bays are 2- and 3-light mullion and transom
windows, surmounted by pedimented upshots, more elaborate to
centre with lunette with mosaic decoration and flanking
obelisks. Roof stacks. Central squared and flattened dome
surmounted by ornate balcony.
Clock tower has clasping pilasters, clock face to 4 sides,
balcony, 3-light belfry openings and peaked dome cap. Returns
have 2- and 3- light mullion and transom windows.
Inscriptions: to foundation stone: 'THIS STONE WAS LAID BY
ALDERMAN HENRY BRIGHT J.P. MAYOR OF LEAMINGTON OCTOBER 17
1882.' Above door: 'This building was opened Sept 18th 1884,
by the Mayor Sidney Flavel Junr. Esqr. J.P.'
INTERIOR: central imperial staircase has Romanesque
balustrade, and is ornamented with figures, pilasters and
arcades to walls, stained glass staircase window. Council
chamber has wood panelling with pilasters with lion-masks
above; balcony to rear; to front the bay window forms
chairman's 'apse'; painted stone chimneypiece with lion masks;
stained glass window with scenes from Shakespeare 'PRESENTED
BY SIDNEY FLAVEL JUNR JP MAYOR 1883-4'. Assembly Rooms to
left has paired 'Corinthian' pilasters around walls and
panelled ceiling; stained glass windows have musical
instruments.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the total cost of land, buildings, fitting
and furniture was about »20,000.
(Town Hall Centenary 1984: The Present Town Hall 1884-1984:
WGG; Cave LF: Royal Leamington Spa Its History and
Development: Chichester: 1988-: 132-7; Leamington Spa Courier:
20.9.1884).

Listing NGR: SP3181865780

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Town Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26661548

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas