Town Hall

The Town Hall, built in 1883, was designed by C.O. Ellison and restored in 1901 by Henry Hartley. It is constructed of golden ashlar over a silver granite basement, with a Welsh slate roof. The building has a basement storey and a main two-storeyed nine-window range.

The central projecting portico features five bays supported by a projecting basement with staircases on either side, with pink marble rails and caps to the balusters. Cast-iron lamp standards are present. Paired doors are located at the centre of the basement, above a curved balcony supported by heavy console brackets. These are flanked by windows with wrought iron screens, set between pilasters. The rusticated basement of the main block has single windows with transoms, above a reeded cornice. Full-height Corinthian pilasters frame the outer bays above, topped by a modillion cornice and a pediment. The portico contains paired doors with rosette panels and a low relief frieze within the architrave. High relief figures flank a coat of arms on the entablature above. Oculi with swags and heavy moulding are positioned above the side lights, and there are windows with transoms in architraves, alongside round-arched windows to the second floor.

A central tower rises above the main hall in three stages. The lower stage is rusticated, and the second stage exhibits round-arched openings within pediments, flanked by massive volutes. A blind balustraded plinth supports a recessed upper stage, which holds a clock. Sphinxes sit above this stage, surmounted by a copper dome with a finial.

The return elevation to Mortimer Street is divided into unequal bays, and the elevation to Brandon Street has a dissimilar arrangement, though with similar detailing. A tower with a pedimented base and a spire concealing a cast-iron chimney pipe is located above a doorway on the Brandon Street elevation.