Town Hall

Town Hall

This Town Hall was built between 1857 and 1860 to designs by J L Clemence, then altered between 1869 and 1873 by W Oldham Chambers. It was substantially rebuilt and extended between 1899 and 1905, with further extensions added during the 20th century.

The building is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond with gault brick dressings. The roof is covered in slate except for pantiles over the Council Chamber.

The Town Hall occupies a large plot facing east onto the High Street, with Mariners Street to the north and Compass Street to the south. The original Council Chamber of 1857–1860 is located in the middle of the main range and is oriented east–west. An extension of around 1912 adjoins the main range to the north, occupying the corner of the High Street and Mariners Street, with a further extension of around 1935 on the west side of this. A long range built in 1905 faces onto Compass Street and has two rear extensions. A former inn of around 1870 adjoins the west side of the Town Hall on Compass Street but is not included in the listing.

The exterior is a two-storey building in the Italianate style, featuring a plinth and corner pilaster strips with long recessed panels of gault brick, and moulded stone string courses to both floors, with the upper one enriched with a dentilled cornice. The principal east-facing range has seven bays and is dominated by a central clock tower with a pyramidal roof and wide eaves supported by brackets. The main entrance comprises double-leaf doors with six raised and fielded panels, flanked by pilasters topped with stone composite capitals bearing tablets inscribed with the letters V and R. Above the door is a keyed stone arch inscribed TOWN HALL. The central bay is defined by pilaster strips which rise through both storeys up to the two-stage tower. The first stage of the tower is pierced by a one-over-one pane sash window under a gauged brick arch, and the second stage has circular clocks on all four faces set within brick surrounds. The flanking bay windows are one-over-one pane sashes with moulded stone sills. Ground-floor windows have gauged brick arches with stone keystones and are decorated beneath the sills with a row of carved stylised flowers in small square panels. The windows to higher-status offices have etched glass. First-floor windows are round-headed with stone keystones. The central bay above the door is lit by a pair of smaller round-headed sashes.

Adjoining the main range to the right is a one-and-a-half storey extension of around 1912 in a similar style, with brick plinth, corner pilaster strips, moulded stone string course and parapet. It is lit by three flat-headed sashes with matching detailing to the main range fenestration. The Council Chamber's half-hipped gable end rises above the parapet. The north elevation of this extension has three bays defined by pilaster strips. The first bay is gabled with a small pedimented window in the gable head. The central bay contains a three-panelled door with an open-bed triangular pediment, and a gabled dormer window above, repeated in the third bay. Ground-floor windows have flat gauged arches with keystones. To the right is a two-storey, two-bay extension of around 1935 in plainer style with unadorned red brick pilaster strips on the ground floor, refaced in brown brick. This contains a recessed door in the first bay and three windows on the first floor.

The long two-storey range facing onto Compass Street has the same detailing and fenestration as the principal range and is 16 window bays wide. The first three bays are under a semi-circular gable with a date stone of 1904 in the gable head, and the seventh to twelfth bays are under a triangular pediment. The rear elevations are largely obscured by later extensions, although a large semi-circular window appears on the west gable end of the Council Chamber.

The interior plan form of the Town Hall survives largely intact. The principal rooms of interest are those in the main range facing onto the High Street: the entrance hall, staircase hall and reception room on the ground floor; and the Council Chamber and Chairman's Room on the first floor. Much original joinery and numerous fixtures and fittings remain, including deep moulded skirting boards, cornices and decorative iron radiators. The corridors are articulated by arches with a single roll moulding, and some areas feature intricately designed geometric tiled floors. The principal open well staircase has been repositioned to the south-west corner and it is uncertain whether this is the original staircase or a slightly later one from the rebuilding period. It features a panelled spandrel, quarter-pace landings and a closed moulded string. Twisted balusters and decorative newel posts with ball finials support a moulded handrail.

The Council Chamber is double-height and four bays wide, articulated by pilasters rising to a dentilled cornice, and lit on both sides by tall round-arched windows. It is panelled to dado height with moulded square panels and an incorporated moulded skirting board. The elaborate iron radiator covers have grilled panels divided by classical-style pilasters. The west wall is lit by a large round-arched window filled with stained glass, flanked by pairs of superimposed pilasters with a dentilled cornice. This window, given by Sir Samuel Morton Peto, displays figures of St George and St Denis separated by a panel depicting the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Two smaller windows on either side of the chamber commemorate Peto's links with Lowestoft. The ante-room is panelled to above dado height and has double-leaf panelled doors in a moulded doorframe.

The rooms in the 1905 range facing onto Compass Street mostly retain original skirting boards, cornices, six-panelled doors in moulded frames and some geometric tiled floors. The open well staircase at the west end has a panelled spandrel, closed string and moulded handrail.