Municipal Buildings

The Municipal Buildings in Wigan are commercial offices that now serve as municipal offices. They were built in 1900 by Bradshaw and Gass of Bolton for the Royal London Friendly Society and were extended in 1939. The building features red brick in English garden wall bond on the ground floor, while the rest is completely faced with red terracotta and topped with green slate roofs. It has a long façade facing Hewlett Street, with a convex corner and a short return to Library Street, designed in the Flemish Renaissance style.

The exterior consists of three storeys with seven bays on Hewlett Street and three bays on Library Street. It showcases a prominent convex frieze and an enriched dentilled cornice above the ground floor, supported by large enriched terracotta consoles. There is a deep band of flamboyantly foliated terracotta panels with stone coping between the first and second floors, and balustraded parapets. The second, fifth, and seventh bays, as well as the first bay on Library Street, are adorned with tall Dutch gables. The sixth bay, nestled between the fifth and seventh, features a wide segmental entrance archway and an elaborate storeyed bow topped with a squat dome of highly-glazed brown terracotta. The convex corner is even more elaborately designed, including a canted arcaded balcony on the second floor and a richly decorated turret, which currently lacks its original dome.

The terracotta ornamentation is particularly rich, including storeyed canted oriels on the gabled bays (except for the seventh), fluted pilasters on both upper floors, and herms or mermen at the angles on the second floor. The windows are mullioned and transomed, with dentilled transoms, and those on the first floor are arched in each light, creating a wave-like effect. The building also features many Art Nouveau motifs and tall panelled chimneys with cornices.

The interior has not been inspected. The Municipal Buildings form a group with the Town Hall on the opposite side of Hewlett Street, making them the most impressive buildings in Wigan town centre.