Tottenham Town Hall is a municipal building in Town Hall Approach Road,
Tottenham
Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
, London. It 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 19th century 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 ...
met at
Bruce Castle
Bruce Castle (formerly the Lordship House) is a Grade I listed 16th-century manor house in Lordship Lane, Tottenham, London. It is named after the House of Bruce who formerly owned the land on which it is built. Believed to stand on the site o ...
.
After 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 ...
in 1895, civic leaders decided to procure purpose-built municipal offices: the site they selected for the new building had previously been occupied by four large residential properties: Eaton House, Wilton House, The Ferns and Hatfield House.
[ They decided that the new municipal offices would be flanked by a fire station to the south and swimming baths to the north both to be built in the same architectural style and at the same time as the municipal offices.][ A school, to be built to the north of the swimming baths, was added to the scheme a few years later.
The foundation stone for the new facility was laid on 6 October 1904.][ The building was designed by Arnold Taylor and Rutherford Jemmett in the ]Baroque style
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...
; it was officially opened by the Chairman of the Council, T H Camp, on 2 November 1905.[ The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Town Hall Approach Road; the central section of five bays featured a doorway with a stone surround flanked by ]Tuscan order
The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...
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 on the ground floor; there were tall rounded-headed windows with Gibbs surround
A Gibbs surround or Gibbs Surround is a type of architectural frame surrounding a door, window or niche in the tradition of classical architecture otherwise known as a rusticated doorway or window. The formula is not fixed, but several of th ...
arches flanked with 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 in the centre and Ionic order pilasters beyond on the first floor; 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 a clock at roof level.[ The principal room was the council chamber on the first floor.][
The building became the headquarters of the ]Municipal Borough of Tottenham
Tottenham () was a local government district in north east Middlesex from 1850 to 1965. It was part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District.
History
In 1850 a local board of health was established for the civil parish of ...
as "Tottenham Town Hall" when the area secured municipal borough
A municipal borough was a type of local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state.
Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...
status in 1934. In May 1962, after Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
won the 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 Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
, a victory reception was held at the town hall and Jimmy Greaves
James Peter Greaves (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and one of England's best ever players, he is England's fifth- ...
held the FA Cup trophy aloft from town hall balcony.
The town hall ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey ( , same as Harringay) is a London boroughs, London borough in north London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation ...
was formed in 1965. In the late 1980s a memorial to Cynthia Jarrett, whose death in October 1985 was the catalyst for the Broadwater Farm riot
The Broadwater Farm riot occurred on the Broadwater council estate in Tottenham, North London, on 6 October 1985.
The events of the day were dominated by two deaths. The first was that of Cynthia Jarrett, an Afro-Caribbean woman who died the p ...
, was erected outside the town hall. The building subsequently deteriorated and was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register.[ The works included restoration of the council chamber, which was renamed the Moselle Room after the ]River Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A small part of Belgiu ...
which flows through the area. The development also made land available behind the town hall for Newlon Housing Trust to create new affordable homes.
The adjacent swimming baths and the fire station, which both formed part of the original composition, were redeveloped as an arts centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...
and as a restaurant in 2007 and 2015 respectively.
References
{{reflist
Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Haringey
City and town halls in London
Government buildings completed in 1905
Grade II listed government buildings
1905 establishments in England