Redbridge Town Hall is a municipal building in High Road,

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Redbridge London Borough Council, 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 ...

History

In the late 19th century, Ilford local board was based in rooms above a shop in Cranbrook Road, and after it became an urban district in 1895, it moved into a rented schoolroom in Ilford Hall in High Road in 1898. Civic leaders decided this arrangement was inadequate for their needs and that they would procure a new town hall: the site chosen, which was already on the council's ownership, had been occupied by the local fire station. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Councillor William Walter Gilson, Chairman of Ilford Urban District Council, on 17 March 1900. It was designed by Ben Woollard in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

and was opened as Ilford Town Hall in December 1901. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto High Road; the central section featured a triple-round-arched entrance on the ground floor; on the first floor there was alcove and a balcony 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) ...

columns; there was 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 Ionic order

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

s at each corner at roof level. There were also separate

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

es on either side at the front of the building giving access to the public hall to the east and the council offices to the west. Internally, the principal rooms were the public hall, the council chamber and the mayor's parlour. The building went on to become the headquarters of the

Municipal Borough of Ilford Ilford was a civil parish and local government district in south west Essex, England from 1888 to 1965, covering the town Ilford. The district saw a considerable rise in population throughout its life, caused by the expansion of the built-up are ...

when the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

and

Duchess of York Duchess of York is the principal courtesy title held by the wife of the Duke of York. Three of the eleven Dukes of York either did not marry or had already assumed the throne prior to marriage, while two of the Dukes married twice; therefore, th ...

arrived to present the

Royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

on 21 October 1926. Also present at the charter ceremony was the

Lord Lieutenant of Essex This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Since 1688, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Essex. * John Petre, 1st Baron Petre * John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford 1558–? * Robert Dudley, 1st ...

, Lord Lambourne, who was subsequently commemorated when the mayor's refreshment room was re-named in his memory. A library was built to the south to the designs of the borough engineer, H. Shaw, in 1927 and further alterations were carried out, infilling the area between the town hall and the library, to the designs of the then borough engineer, L. E .J. Reynolds, in 1933. The town hall was covered with flags and bunting in May 1945 to celebrate

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

towards the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the municipal borough for much of the 20th century and continued to be the local seat of government when the enlarged

London Borough of Redbridge The London Borough of Redbridge is a London boroughs, London borough established in 1965. The borough shares boundaries with the Epping Forest District and the ceremonial county of Essex to the north, with the London Borough of Waltham Forest t ...

was formed in 1965. It also continued to be used as a venue for large events and also as the local registrars' office. The former library was converted into an art gallery, known as Space Ilford, which opened in December 2019. The London Borough of Redbridge continues to hold its council meetings in the town hall.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Redbridge City and town halls in London Government buildings completed in 1901 Grade II listed government buildings