The Market House, also known as Uxbridge Town Hall, is a commercial building in the High Street in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

, a suburb of London, England. The building, which is currently in commercial use, 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

The building was commissioned to replace an earlier market house which was completed in 1561, and demolished for the purpose of widening the High Street in 1785. The new building was designed 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 red brick and was completed in 1788. The building was open on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of 11 bays facing onto the high street. The first floor were supported by around 50

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. The central section of three bays, which was taller than the other sections, was fenestrated by three tall round headed windows with

balustrades A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

on the first floor, and by three square windows at attic level, all surmounted by a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

with an oculus in the tympanum. The wings of four bays each were fenestrated 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. At roof level, there was a single-stage

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is de ...

al tower with clock faces surmounted by 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 ...

; the clock was by George Handy of Uxbridge and is dated 1789. Internally, the principal area was the market hall on the ground floor, which was long and wide. In the 19th century, the first floor accommodated a local school, while the ground floor was used as a

corn exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

. However, the use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century. Following the formation of Uxbridge Urban District Council in 1894, the new council met on the first floor of the market house, which then became known as "Uxbridge Town Hall". The building continued to serve as the local seat of government until the council acquired a house called Southfields at 265 High Street in 1927 and converted it to be its offices and meeting place. Meanwhile, the market house was converted for commercial use and, in the mid-20th century, the ground floor was enclosed in glass. The glazing was removed later in the century and replaced by a series of retail stalls which were recessed from the cartilage of the building.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1788 Grade II* listed government buildings Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Hillingdon

History

See also

References