Elland Town Hall is a municipal building in Southgate,

Elland Elland is a market town in Calderdale, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is situated south of Halifax, by the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation. Elland was recorded as ''Elant'' in the Domesday Book of 1086. It ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...

, England. The structure, which was primarily used as an events venue, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

History

The first municipal building in the town was a small square building at the south end of Southgate which was completed in 1821. The building, which was known as the "Town's Room", was used as a lock-up and as an office for parish officials: it had an arched doorway, gothic windows and a sign above the doorway, quoting the

Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs ( he, מִשְלֵי, , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible and a book of the Christian Old Testament. When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on differ ...

Chapter 28, Clause 7, which read "whoso keeps the law is wise". The

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 environment ...

, which was established in November 1852, used the town's room as its regular meeting place. In the early 1880s, the local board decided that the town needed an events venue capable of hosting large public events: the site they chose was directly opposite the old town's room. A design completion was won by Charles Frederick Luke Horsfall from Halifax. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 21 June 1887. It was designed in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabular ...

, built in brown brick at a cost of £7,000 and was officially opened by the

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

John Saville John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, of

Rufford Abbey Rufford Abbey is a country estate in Rufford, Nottinghamshire, England, two miles (4 km) south of Ollerton. Originally a Cistercian abbey, it was converted to a country house in the 16th century after the Dissolution of the Monasteries ...

, on 19 September 1888. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the corner of Southgate and Huddersfield Road; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a flight of steps leading up to a pair of round headed doorways with

keystones A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, all ...

flanked by pairs of full-height Corinthian order

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). Al ...

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

with a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

in the tympanum. The central bay also featured a prominent

Venetian window A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian ...

with a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

and a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

on the first floor, while the outer bays were fenestrated with round headed

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s on both floors. The roof was enhanced by a pair of

mansard A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

pavilions and by a small central

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fr ...

with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , ...

. Internally, the principal room was the assembly hall which could accommodate 1,000 people. Following significant population growth, largely associated with Elland's status as a market town, the area was advanced to the status of urban district in 1894. The new council chose to procure new council offices on a site just to the north of the town hall. In June 1909 a clock was installed in the cupola: it was a gift to the town from Lewis Mackrell, in memory of his father, James Mackrell, who had been the proprietor of a local engineering company. The town hall continued to be used for concerts and public events but was converted for use as the Town Hall Cinema in October 1909. The building was renamed the Palladium Cinema in 1920 and continued to operate in that capacity until June 1959. It then operated for as a bingo hall until 1977 and subsequently as a snooker club, but had to be fully restored after being badly damaged in a fire in November 1994. It then functioned as a fitness centre before being returned to use as a banqueting facility. Meanwhile, the ground floor on the Southgate side of the building, which operated as a row of shops for much of the 20th century, has more recently been fitted out for restaurant use.

References

{{City and town halls in West Yorkshire Government buildings completed in 1888 City and town halls in West Yorkshire Elland Grade II listed buildings in West Yorkshire

History

See also

References