Chelsea Town Hall is a municipal building in

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

, Chelsea, London. The oldest part is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and the later part is Grade II listed.

History

The building was commissioned to replace a mid-19th-century

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

hall on King's Road, which had been designed by

William Willmer Pocock William Willmer Pocock (8 May 1813 – 18 September 1899) was a British architect. He was born in Knightsbridge in Middlesex, England, the son of the architect William Fuller Pocock (1779–1849) and his wife Fanny née Willmer. In 1865 he stoo ...

in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Ita ...

for the Parish of St Luke's and which had been found to be structurally unsound. The oldest part of the current complex is the vestry hall in Chelsea Manor Gardens, which was designed by John McKean Brydon 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 ...

and built by a local builder, Charles Wall; it was officially opened on 12 January 1887. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto Chelsea Manor Gardens; the central section of three bays featured three windows above which there was a large Venetian window flanked by huge

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 ...

. A

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

with a dome and

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 , m ...

was erected at roof level. This building became the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea The Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea was a metropolitan borough of the County of London between 1900 and 1965. It was created by the London Government Act 1899 from most of the ancient parish of Chelsea. Following the London Government Act 196 ...

on its formation in 1900. Internally, the main rooms were the main hall, which was particularly ornate, a smaller hall and the Cadogan Suite, the latter two being located in side wings off the main hall. After civic leaders found that Pocock's vestry hall was structurally unsound, they elected to demolish it and construct a new structure to the designs of

Leonard Stokes Leonard Aloysius Scott Stokes (1858 – 25 December 1925) was an English architect and artist. Leonard Stokes was born in Southport (then in Lancashire) in 1858 the son of Scott Nasmyth Stokes, a school inspector. He trained in London and tra ...

in the neoclassical style on the King's Road site. The works were carried out by A.N. Coles of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

at a cost of £35,000 and completed in 1907. The design for this frontage involved 15 bays with two sections at either end with doorways with

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

s flanked by windows and by full-height Ionic order columns supporting pediments; the two end-sections also had windows on the first floor. The frontage also had a clock which projected over the street and central

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

. The town hall continued to be used as a public venue and concert performers included the

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

singer,

Kathleen Ferrier Kathleen Mary Ferrier (22 April 19128 October 1953) was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the class ...

, who made an appearance on 15 April 1947. The complex ceased to be the local seat of government when the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its initialism as RBKC) is an Inner London, Inner London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the secon ...

was formed in 1965. However the Brydon building became the main

Kensington and Chelsea Register Office Kensington and Chelsea Register Office is an office for the registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships located in Chelsea Town Hall, Chelsea Old Town Hall in Chelsea, London. It has hosted the weddings of many notable people ...

and subsequently hosted several famous weddings including the marriage of

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...

Mickey Deans Michael DeVinko Jr. (September 24, 1934 – July 11, 2003), known as Mickey Deans, was an American musician and entrepreneur. He is best known as the fifth husband and widower of actress and singer Judy Garland. Career He was a disco owner, j ...

in March 1969. After being refurbished by Roderick Ham & Partners, the Stokes extension became the main Chelsea branch library in 1978. The Chelsea Art Society also decided to establish its home in the Stokes extension in 1994 and it began to hold a series of annual exhibitions there showing work by both professional and non-professional artists. An internal refurbishment of the rooms in the Brydon building was completed by Ark Build in February 2019.

References

{{reflist Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1887 Grade II* listed government buildings King's Road, Chelsea, London