Exmouth Town Hall is a municipal building in St Andrews Road in

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort situated on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe, southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of settl ...

, a town in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. The building currently serves as the meeting place of Exmouth Town Council and also accommodates some staff from East Devon District Council.

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with its status as a seaside resort, the town appointed a

local board A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority 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, regulat ...

in 1850. In the early 1870s, courtyards and tenements were cleared in preparation for the construction of terrace buildings in Rolle Street, and the board later established its offices in a three-storey terrace building there. After the local board was succeeded by an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

council in 1894, the council looked for more substantial offices. An application was submitted for funding for the new offices in 1925 and it moved to a large

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

house known as St Bernards in St Andrews Road in around 1930. In the late 1950s, the council redeveloped the site, replacing the old house with a modern structure, to be known as the Town Hall, which retained elements of the old design, e.g. the bi-partite Italianate windows, and which was completed in around 1960. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of eight bays facing onto St Andrews Road. The left-hand section of two bays was projected forward in relation to the right-hand section of six bays. The first bay, which was further projected forward, featured a prominent

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...

with

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s and

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, allo ...

and on the ground floor, while the second bay was fenestrated with a bi-partite square-headed window in a similar style, and the first floor had bi-partite round-headed windows in both bays. The right-hand section featured a doorway with an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

flanked by

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s and protected by a semi-circular

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

supported by columns. The other bays in the right-hand section were fenestrated by casement windows. At roof level, there was a

Châteauesque Châteauesque (or Francis I style,Whiffen, Marcus, ''American Architecture Since 1780: A guide to the styles'', The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969, p. 142. or in Canada, the Château Style) is a revivalist architectural style based on the ...

-style roof with attic windows. The building was later extended with an extra bay to the left. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber. The building ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged East Devon District Council was formed at

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 13,258 in 2021, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has ...

in 1974. Instead the building became the offices and meeting place of Exmouth Town Council, which rented some space in the building from its owners, East Devon District Council. A plaque commemorating the life of Sub-lieutenant

Reginald Warneford Reginald Alexander John Warneford, Victoria Cross, VC (15 October 1891 – 17 June 1915), also known as Rex Warneford, was a British aviator and Royal Naval Air Service officer who received the Victoria Cross for air-bombing a Zeppelin during t ...

, who was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

for air-bombing a

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, was fixed to the wall of the town hall in 1999. In 2009, local residents proposed that the town hall be added to the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

, but the bid have the building listed was unsuccessful. An extensive programme of refurbishment works, undertaken by

Interserve Interserve was a British construction and support services business based in Reading, Berkshire, which went into administration in 2019 and was formally wound up in 2022. In 2019 the group generated revenue of £2.2 billion and had a workforce ...

to a design by LHC Design, was completed in October 2017, enabling East Devon District Council to relocate some of its staff from Sidmouth into the town hall.

References

{{reflist City and town halls in Devon Exmouth