Town Hall

The Town Hall in Southport was built between 1852 and 1853 by Thomas Withnell. It features white painted stucco and a slate roof, designed in the Palladian style. The building has a rectangular plan that runs parallel to the street, with later additions at the rear.

The exterior consists of two storeys raised on a basement that acts as a plinth. The façade is symmetrical, with a layout of 1:2:1:2:1 windows. Pairs of pilasters define the bays, and there is channelled rustication on the plinth and ground floor. Each floor has a frieze and cornice, with the upper cornice being dentilled. The central section includes a pediment and balustraded parapets over the other bays.

A double parallel stone staircase with a balustraded parapet leads up to a raised rectangular porch, which features corner pilasters and fluted Doric columns distyle in antis. The porch has a triglyph frieze, a mutule cornice, and a balustraded parapet. Above the porch, there is an altered 4-pane window framed by Ionic semi-columns and paired pilasters, along with sculptured relief figures of Justice, Mercy, and Truth in the tympanum of the pediment. The basement has short sashed windows, while the ground floor features tall round-headed windows with raised sills, keystones, and run-out voussoirs, as well as 4/2 sashes with very slender glazing bars. The first floor has tall 2/2 sashes with moulded architraves.

The interior has not been inspected. The Town Hall forms a group with the Southport Arts Centre to the right and the Pavilion in the Municipal Garden at the front.