Southwark Municipal Offices And Attached Railings

Southwark Municipal Offices and attached railings

A vestry hall, later town hall and now municipal offices, built in 1864-65 and extended around 1900, designed by Henry Jarvis.

The building is constructed in brick laid in Flemish bond with white brick trim and stone dressings. The roofs are mansard, covered in slate, with those over the end pavilions finished in fishscale tiles.

The structure comprises two storeys over a basement. The main elevation facing Walworth Road is treated as a pavilioned block with a nine-window range. The return of the 1865 building extends this with a 12-window range, consisting of the pavilion return, a recessed range of four windows and a slightly taller range of five windows. The rear extension of around 1900 has two storeys and an attic over a basement, with a five-window range and end ranges treated as pavilions. To the right of the main entrance stands a two-storey annexe of one-window range in matching materials, which may date to the 1900 building scheme as it does not appear in mid-19th-century illustrations.

The main elevation is symmetrical about a round-arched entrance set beneath a segmental-arched aedicule supported by paired coupled columns. To either side are double flat-arched lights in round-arched recesses, the tympana carved with foliage and heads. Above the entrance is a tripartite round-arched window, with double lights to either side set in segmental-arched recesses. The end pavilions feature triple round-arched windows on ground and first floors, the former with broad flush architraves and the latter with pointed architraves. A heavy corbel table runs to the eaves. All features are tied together by moulded sill, springing and floor bands. The springings of all openings are treated as column capitals, carved with rich naturalistic ornament.

The annexe repeats these motifs with variations, particularly in the parapet and round-arched dormer, which have an almost Jacobean character. The return elevation recalls the main elevation with an end pavilion at the corner and recessed range, followed by a somewhat taller two-storey range in an almost utilitarian style, with segmental-arched windows in a pilastrade to the ground floor and flat-arched windows in an arcade above. The 1900 range steps forward and combines double-lights in round-arched recesses, triple lights and naturalistic carving with an arcaded attic storey and segmental-arched entrance. The entrance is supported by paired coupled pilasters-cum-brackets that swell elegantly from base to top. Gothic Revival lamp standards flank the main entrance on stair walls, with matching gates to the entrance porch.

The interior is generally plain except for the council chamber on the first floor. Although a new roof and ceiling have been installed, the original semicircular settles, chairman's desk and iron spectators' gallery remain extant. The stair hall is of particular interest, featuring lamp standards to the lower newels, a wood banister terminating in floral scrolls, and cast-iron balusters in the pattern of Gothic plate tracery. The landing and first floor are articulated as a blind arcade, with the southern section pierced by three stained-glass lights. The floor trusses supporting the first-floor landing are visible from below, with their lattice interstices treated as Gothic tracery.

This vestry hall is the second oldest of its kind surviving in London, the oldest being Woolwich Old Town Hall of 1842. The architectural style is a subtle blend of French Second Empire and High Victorian Gothic, such as found more commonly on commercial buildings of the period. The rear addition of around 1900 is a noteworthy example of a late Victorian architect successfully matching a mid-Victorian design.

The building served as the town hall for the Borough of Southwark from 1900 to 1965. Since 1965 it has housed municipal offices and the registry office. Jarvis, who was District Surveyor, may have received the commission through this post.

The structure forms a group with the Public Library on Walworth Road.