Gosport Town Hall is a municipal structure in the High Street,

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. The structure currently serves as the headquarters of

Gosport Borough Council Gosport Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Gosport, in the county of Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berks ...

History

The first municipal building in Gosport was an ancient market hall and courthouse in the Middle Row which, in its original form, was a gift from the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

Henry of Blois Henry of Blois ( c. 1096 8 August 1171), often known as Henry of Winchester, was Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey from 1126, and Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death. He was the son of Stephen II, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy, a yo ...

, in the 12th century. By the early 19th century the building in the Middle Row, which was in the centre of the High Street, was considered an obstruction of traffic and a local businessman, Robert Cruickshank, led an initiative to demolish the old building and to erect a new building at the shore end of the High Street. The new town hall and market house was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built in brick with

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone dressings at a cost £15,000 and was completed in 1812. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing The Hard. There were three openings on the ground floor flanked by

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

columns supporting a

balcony A balcony (from , "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. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

, and there were five

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 the first floor flanked by

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

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 supporting a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

with an oculus in the tympanum. The market house was hit by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

bombing and reduced to a shell during the Portsmouth Blitz in August 1940. However, the Dive Café, in the basement of the market house, remained a popular venue into the 1950s. In the early 1960s, civic leaders decided to demolish the remains of the market house and to erect a new town hall on the south side of the High Street. The new building was designed by W. H. Saunders & Son in the

International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

, built in concrete and glass and was completed in 1964. The design involved a rectangular five-storey main frontage with a pair of two-storey wings jutting out towards the High Street to form a courtyard. The main structure was faced with curtain walling and was supplemented by a curved formation containing the council chamber, which was

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

ed out to the west and allowed vehicular access at ground floor level. Works of art in the town hall include a painting by the local artist, Martin Snape, depicting Forton Creek.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1964 City and town halls in Hampshire Gosport