Lambeth Town Hall

Lambeth Town Hall is a large town hall built between 1905 and 1908 by Septimus Warwick and H Austen Hall. It was raised and extended between 1935 and 1938 by Whinney, Son and Austen Hall, with ER Silver acting as job architect. The building is constructed of red brick with Portland stone dressings and is designed in a modified Baroque style. It occupies an L-shaped plan, situated on the corner of Brixton Hill and Acre Lane, incorporating a prominent square brick tower topped with a crown finial and clock faces depicting Justice, Science, Art, and Literature.

The main body of the building is banded in stone and features a high stone plinth, a heavy modillioned cornice, and a balustraded parapet. Windows are set within stone architraves with elaborate keystones, the ground floor windows being round arched. A rusticated stone section with Ionic order forms a slightly recessed first floor. A three-window bay, flanked by doorways displaying the coat of arms and supporting figures, is raised a storey in the later extension. A western extension, simpler in style, presents a symmetrical five-bay facade with tripartite casements and projecting wings, the east wing including a doorway with a large fanlight. A further five-bay range features a Portland stone ground floor, double-height metal casements, a projecting metal canopy over the entrance to an assembly hall and incorporates a corner tower with aediculed openings, pediment, and chimney. The rear elevation, though blind, is distinguished by a sculpture of ‘youth’ by Denis Dunlop.

The interior is accessed through a long, narrow entrance hall, flanked by staircases leading to council chambers. Plaques commemorate local figures like Violet Szabo, the ‘Windrush’ generation, and residents, as well as memorials to those lost in both World Wars. A plaque depicting a wheelwright's shop by Tinworth is also present. A former rates hall, now a meeting room, is accessible via vaulted corridors. Original metal-balustraded staircases with marble dado panels lead to a largely unaltered civic suite, retaining original cornices and panelled doors. The double-height council chamber features a public gallery, original horseshoe seating, and a deep coved ceiling. The assembly hall retains original raised panelling and a stage, accessible via a separate entrance with a marble-lined vestibule, trabeated ceiling, paybox, and original light fittings.