Sandown Town Hall
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Sandown Town Hall is a municipal building in Grafton Street,
Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, England. The neighbouring resort of Shanklin and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake are sited just to the south of t ...
,
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
, England. The structure, which was the meeting place of Sandown Urban District 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

Following their appointment in 1866, the
local board of health A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...
decided to commission a new civic building for the town: the site they selected was open land on the east side of Grafton Street. The new building was designed by the local architect, Thomas Dowell, 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
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 at a cost of £1,278 and was completed in 1869. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with six bays facing onto Grafton Street; the right hand section of three bays featured a doorway with a
wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...
flanked by
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 with segmental pediments. The first floor was also fenestrated by sash windows, the central window bearing a triangular pediment and the outer windows bearing segmental pediments. The windows were flanked by full-height
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 an
entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
and a pediment with the
Prince of Wales's feathers The Prince of Wales's feathers are the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales, the heir to the British throne. The badge consists of three white ostrich feathers encircled by a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the German motto (, ...
and the inscription "Town Hall 1869" in the tympanum. The left hand section of two bays featured round headed windows on the ground floor and segmental windows on the first floor flanked by full-height
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 an open pediment with an oculus in the tympanum. The central section featured a doorway with a
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, ...
, a keystone and a pediment on the ground floor and two square headed windows on the first floor; the central section was surmounted by a
dentil A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...
ed
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...
and a
parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...
. Internally, the principal room was the main hall with capacity for 520 people. A fire station was completed on an adjacent site to the south of the town hall in 1879. Following significant growth in the population, largely associated with the fishing industry, the area became an
urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...
with the town hall as its headquarters in 1894. The building was also used as an events venue by Sandown Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society which was founded just before the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of Sandown Urban District Council and, from 1933, of the Sandown-Shanklin Urban District Council but ceased to be the local seat of government when the council relocated to Shanklin Town Hall in the 1940s. However, Sandown Town Hall continued to be used as an events venue and in the mid-1960s performers included the soul band,
Jimmy James and the Vagabonds Michael "Jimmy" James (13 September 1940 – 14 May 2024) was a Jamaican-British soul singer, known for songs like "Come to Me Softly", " Now Is the Time" and " I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me". Based in Britain, he performed as the lead si ...
. Following implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, ownership of the building passed to South Wight District Council in 1974. It was then acquired by
Isle of Wight County Council Isle of Wight Council, known between 1890 and 1995 as Isle of Wight County Council, is the local authority for the Isle of Wight in England. Since 1995 it has been a unitary authority, being a county council which also performs the functions of ...
in 1982, before being transferred to the new
unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
,
Isle of Wight Council Isle of Wight Council, known between 1890 and 1995 as Isle of Wight County Council, is the local authority for the Isle of Wight in England. Since 1995 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, being a non-metropolitan cou ...
in 1995. The building was adapted for occupation as an indoor bowls centre for senior citizens and later as a youth centre and the latter use continued until the building was vacated in June 2017. Although Sandown Town Council considered using the town hall as its principal meeting place, the town council chose instead to redevelop the Broadway Centre in 2018. A local art curator, Simon Avery, suggested, in July 2020, that the town hall may contain murals by the Victorian artist, Henry Tooth. However, Isle of Wight Council decided, in March 2021, to grant planning permission to convert the building for residential use and then, in September 2021, decided to sell the building to a developer.


References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1869 City and town halls on the Isle of Wight Sandown Grade II listed buildings on the Isle of Wight