East Barnet Town Hall

East Barnet Town Hall
East Barnet Town Hall
Location	Station Road, East Barnet
Coordinates	51.6500°N 0.1757°W / 51.6500; -0.1757
Built	1892
Architect	Frederick William Shenton
Architectural style(s)	Italianate style
Shown in Barnet

East Barnet Town Hall is a former municipal building in Station Road, East Barnet, London, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of East Barnet Urban District Council, is a locally listed building.^[1]

History

The building was commissioned by the East Barnet Valley Local Board, which was formed in 1863, to serve as its municipal offices:^[2] the site they selected was open land on the north side of New Barnet Road (now known as Station Road) just south of the public baths.^[3] Following a design competition, which was won by Frederick William Shenton of Whetstone, construction of the new building commenced in 1891.^[1] It was designed in the Italianate style, built using red bricks with stone dressings and officially opened in 1892.^[1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto Station Road; the central section of five bays, which projected forward, featured an arched doorway with a tympanum flanked by brackets supporting an entablature; there were round headed windows in the other bays on the ground floor and in all bays on the first floor.^[1] At roof level there was a cornice with dentils; there was also a small turret with a weather vane above.^[1]

The building became the headquarters of East Barnet Urban District Council in 1894 and benefited from the installation of a pediment containing a clock and chime of bells, cast by John Warner & Sons, in 1898.^[4] Pevsner subsequently described the style of the building as "modest Italianate with a clock tower".^[5]

The New Barnet War Memorial, designed by Newbury Abbot Trent to commemorate the lives of service personnel who had died in the First World War, was unveiled opposite the town hall by the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Lord Hampden on 20 March 1921.^[6][7][8] The building ceased to be the local seat of government when the East Barnet Urban District was transferred from Hertfordshire to Greater London on the formation of the London Borough of Barnet in 1965;^[9] however it was retained by the new London Borough Council, serving until the mid-1980s as the Northern Division Planning Office.^[10] After local government use of the building ceased it stood empty for a time, during which the clock and bells were stolen. (Some of the bells were subsequently recovered and put on display by the Barnet Museum; however the bells were stolen from the museum in 2010 and have not since been recovered.)^[4] The town hall was identified as a "building of local architectural or historic interest" and placed on the local list on 30 April 1986.^[11]

The building was converted for use as a restaurant in 1996.^[1] It traded initially as an Italian restaurant under the "Mamma Amalfi" brand^[12] (during which a Roman statue was placed in the space where the clock had been).^[1] Later it was as a Greek restaurant known as "The Palace".^[13] It was converted for residential use as a block of apartments known as "Chambers Court" in 2007.^[1]

References

1. "Local Heritage List". Barnet London Borough Council. 1 July 2019. p. 327. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
2. "New Barnet". Hidden London. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
3. "Ordnance Survey Map". 1881. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
4. "Two East Barnet people to stand trial over theft of historic museum bells". Hendon & Finchley, Barnet & Potters Bar, Edgware and Mill Hill Times. 3 September 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
5. Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1998). Buildings of England Series: London: North. Yale University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0300096538.
6. "New Barnet". London Borough of Barnet. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
7. Historic England. "New Barnet (East Barnet Valley) War Memorial (1418126)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
8. "East Barnet Valley: World War I". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
9. "Local Government Act 1963". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
10. London Gazette, 16 October 1984, Issue 49899, Page 13974.
11. "The Schedule of Buildings of Local Architectural or Historic Interest" (PDF). Barnet London Borough Council. p. 20. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
12. "London's Town Halls". Historic England. p. 212. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
13. "Planning Application" (PDF). London Borough of Barnet. 7 September 2004. Retrieved 31 December 2020.