Islington Town Hall is a municipal facility in Upper Street,

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters for

Islington London Borough Council Islington London Borough Council, also known as Islington Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Islington in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majo ...

, 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, H ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace the ageing 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 Upper Street which had been used by the Parish of St Mary's, Islington. The vestry hall had become the headquarters of the

Metropolitan Borough of Islington Islington was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish within the county of Middlesex, and formed part of The Metropolis from 1855. The parish was transferred to the County of London in 1889 and became ...

in 1900. After the vestry hall had become inadequate for the council's needs, civic leaders decided to procure a new town hall; they purchased a site with a row of

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the House of Hanover, Hanoverian kings George I of Great Britain, George I, George II of Great Britain, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Geor ...

terraced houses known as Tyndale Place for this purpose in 1920. The new building was designed by Edward Charles Philip Monson 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 in three stages: first the rear wing facing Richmond Grove in 1922, second the northern part in Upper Street in 1925 and third the

assembly hall An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the s ...

in 1929. The complex was officially opened by the mayor, Alderman William Manchester, on 15 March 1930. The design for the northern section involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Upper Street; it featured a stone porch with the borough

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

above flanked by full-height windows and

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...

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 to either side; there was also a window in a similar style on the first floor above the doorway. The principal rooms were the mayor's parlour, which was in the rear wing facing Richmond Grove, and the council chamber, which was in the northern part in Upper Street. Pevsner was impressed by the "lavish marble imperial stair to the octagonal council chamber". Since 1930, when

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

won their first

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

, victory receptions have been held at the town hall.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

visited the town hall and met with civic leaders to mark her coronation in 1953. The building served as the town hall of the

and continued to serve as the local seat of government after

was formed in 1965. However, the council moved many of its officers and their departments to new municipal offices designed by T P Bennett on the opposite side of Upper Street in 1983. Other developments in the 1980s included an underground bunker constructed for protection against nuclear attack.

Islington Museum Islington Museum is a public museum dedicated to the history of the London Borough of Islington. It opened in 2008 and covers various themes on local and social history. History Islington Museum opened in May 2008, funded by a £1million grant f ...

, which had previously been based in the town hall, moved out of the building in preparation for its move to Finsbury Library in December 2006. The town hall hosted a high-profile reception, attended by the

Duchess of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge is a hereditary title of nobility in the British royal family, one of several royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom. The title is named after the city of Cambridge in England. It is heritable by male descendants by primogeni ...

, to promote Chance UK's early intervention child mentoring program in October 2015.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Islington City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1925 Grade II listed government buildings Buildings and structures in Islington