Hampstead Town Hall And Attached Walls And Piers

Hampstead Town Hall, now serving as council offices, was built between 1877 and 1878, designed by H.E. Kendall and Frederick Mew. It is constructed of red brick with rusticated detailing at ground floor level, and features stone dressings. The building is of Italianate style.

The exterior presents a symmetrical design. The central entrance is framed in stone, with panelled pilasters supporting mask console brackets to a pediment bearing a carved, foliated cartouche and an acroterion. Double, part-glazed, panelled doors are set below two rectangular overlights and a further overlight, and are accessed by wide stone steps equipped with low stone balustrades and elaborately enriched cast-iron lamp standards with ladder bars and Windsor lanterns. Three stone architraved sash windows with scrolled pediments, incorporating architraved oculi, flank the entrance. A dentil cornice runs at first-floor level, below a blind balustrade with carved enrichment. Three tall, round-arched windows are centrally placed, flanked by brick pilasters connected by impost bands; the pilasters continue in fluted stone, supporting an entablature inscribed with "Town Hall" on the frieze, a modillion cornice, and a pediment with an oculus above the central bay, topped by a parapet above the outer bays. The returns are without entrances but maintain a similar style, with friezes inscribed "Erected AD 1877".

The interior retains numerous original features, including cornices, fireplaces, clocks, and radiators. A top-lit entrance hall has a patterned tile floor and an Imperial staircase with elaborate cast-iron balusters and newels, incorporating brass lamp-holders. On the first landing, a round-arched mirror sits within a marble surround, featuring a clock in its pediment. A marble First World War memorial, with columns supporting an entablature surmounted by a coat of arms, is located in the right-hand stairwell. A good marble fireplace is present in the porter’s booth. In the rear corridor, a Boer War memorial consisting of brass panels is displayed. The first-floor assembly hall, which includes a stage, has a heavy cornice with console brackets dropping down over the frieze. A secondary staircase exhibits a cast-iron balustrade. The building is recognised as a fine early example of a London vestry hall.