The Guildford Guildhall is a

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

located on the

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

of the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, Surrey. It is a Grade I

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 ...

History

The Guildhall, which initially accommodated a market hall on the ground floor and a

courtroom A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms, which may also be known as "courts", may be housed in a courthouse. In recent years, courtrooms have been equipped with audiovisual ...

on the first floor, was built around 1550. It was substantially remodelled with a new facade and a new council chamber being installed on the first floor in 1683. The external design involved three doors on the ground floor, three mullion windows 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 augmented by 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 ...

with iron railings on the first floor and an ornamental

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 ...

on the roof. The projecting clock, erected at that time, was presented to the council by a London clockmaker, John Aylward, in return for being allowed to trade in the borough. The interior design involved a courtroom on the ground floor and a council chamber on the first floor. The panelling in the council chamber was taken from Stoughton Manor House shortly before it was demolished in the late 17th century. The ornamental cupola was replaced in 1882. During much of the 20th century the town hall served as the meeting place of the Municipal Borough of Guildford but it ceased to be the local seat of government in 1974, when the amalgamation of the municipal borough of Guildford and Guildford Rural District to form Guildford Borough Council took place; the amalgamated Borough Council decided to hold its meetings at Millmead House.

Art collection

Works of art in the Guildhall include a portrait of

King James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

by Paul van Somer I, a portrait of King Charles II by Peter Lely and a portrait of King James II, also by Peter Lely. There are also paintings of King William III and Queen Mary II by John Riley and a painting depicting Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Onslow receiving the surrender of the Dutch flag after the

Battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was fought on 11 October 1797 between the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief, North Sea, North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, Adam Duncan and a ...

on 11 October 1797 by John Russell.

Present

Guided tours of the Guildhall are conducted bi-weekly. The Guildhall is also available for private hire.

References

Buildings and structures in Guildford City and town halls in Surrey Buildings and structures completed in 1550 Government buildings completed in the 16th century Guildhalls in the United Kingdom Grade I listed buildings in Surrey {{Surrey-struct-stub

History

Art collection

Present

See also

References