Wallington Town Hall

This former town hall, dated 1935, forms part of a civic complex designed by Robert Atkinson (1883-1952), who was nominated by Raymond Unwin at the request of Beddington and Wallington Urban District. The stone carving was executed by Eric Aumonier, with bronze sculpture by Allan Hawes.

Construction and Materials

The building has a brick structure faced in red-brown brick laid in Flemish bond, with Portland stone dressings. The roofs are red pantile and hipped, whilst the clocktower is clad in copper on a steel frame. Internally, Travertine and other polished stone finishes are used throughout.

Layout

The town hall is a symmetrical two-storey building with a main block fronting Woodcote Road. Side wings housing offices run back from this front block, framing a double-height council chamber. A suite of first floor committee rooms at the front open onto the balcony over the portico. The council chamber leads onto a small members' terrace at the rear. From the main entrance, a symmetrical lobby and hall lead to an imperial stair which rises to a gallery or committee lobby serving the committee rooms, and provides the backdrop to the entrances to the council chamber which sits behind it. The double-height council chamber has since been subdivided both vertically and horizontally. Offices (now offices and classrooms) line spinal corridors in the side wings.

East Elevation

The east elevation presents a two-storey symmetrical range in progressive neo-Georgian manner, facing the street in 11 bays arranged as 3:5:3. The centrepiece breaks forward under a hipped roof, whilst the side bays are lower and sit under half-hipped roofs. The centrepiece is framed by fluted pilasters which rise from ground level and run abruptly into a plain frieze, beneath a scalloped stone parapet.

A three-bay portico is reached by a flight of five stone steps. It has solid, fluted stone outer bays with rectangular front openings fitted with scalloped iron grilles, and square fluted piers flanking the entrance. The north return has a blind flush stone panel; the south return has been opened up to insert a ramp. A plain frieze is inscribed 'TOWN HALL' below a modillion cornice and entablature carrying a scalloped iron balustrade. The interior of the portico is lined in alternating blocks and bands of flush dressed stone. A pair of oak doors, each with a single moulded panel, is set in a simple moulded architrave. The soffit of the portico has recessed geometric mouldings, and the floor is stone flagged.

The outer bays flanking the portico have tripartite small-paned timber sashes. The outer and central first floor bays have full-height, margin-glazed, small-paned timber sashes set in brick openings. Intermediate bays are lined in fluted stone, framing narrow vertical small-paned windows. A deep stone plinth and moulded string course carries across the front elevation. Above the first floor central window sits a stone cartouche containing the borough arms, carved by the important contemporary British sculptor Eric Aumonier.

The roof is surmounted by a square-based clock tower with a slatted belfry clad in copper on a steel frame, and with a slender gilded clock face on the east and west faces. The clock mechanism is by Gillett and Johnston, clockmakers to the King. The turret is capped by a weathervane on a spherical base reminiscent of Saturn.

The outer bays each have small-paned horned timber sashes on the ground floor over a continuous cill band. At first floor, each has a stone cill above a recessed brick panel, and all sit under a plain brick parapet. Similar detail continues on the returns of the front wings. The north and south facing side wings are each of nine bays with similar small-paned sashes: at ground floor above a plain cill band, at first floor each with a stone cill above a recessed panel and all above a chamfered platband. Each elevation has a wide stone doorcase with a simple moulded architrave under a canopy, and each has a pair of oak doors of four panels. Above sits a rectangular small-paned window set in a broad, shallow, chamfered architrave.

West Elevation

The west elevation overlooks the garden and library. Three-bay, half-hipped, two-storey wings frame the council chamber which is set behind a double-height portal. The portal is set back in a deep flush stone architrave with panelled linings and soffit. Set back under the portal, fluted pilasters define tall tripartite small-paned, metal-framed windows, the lower elements partly replaced. The lintel over the entrance is inscribed 'ERECTED AD NINETEEN HUNDRED & THIRTYFIVE'. Flanking the portal at the base of each pier are carved coats of arms of the county and borough, also by Eric Aumonier.

Curved two-storey stair bays in vertically laid stretcher-bond brick frame the centrepiece. Each has a small-paned horned sash at each floor, above a ground floor cill band. The council chamber entrance leads onto a stone-flagged members' terrace with steps descending to the gardens, framed by rectangular stone planters. The wings are treated as the north and south elevations but have single small rectangular windows on the inner face. These are set in wide, slightly raised brick architraves and have margin-glazed lights.

Interior Features

The marble-lined entrance hall and stairwell is defined by piers and architraves clad in amber Travertine marble. Skirtings and risers are in black polished Irish stone. Ceilings have shallow horizontal geometric mouldings. An imperial stair in stone with a bronze balustrade rises to a gallery or committee lobby supported on square Travertine-clad piers. The stairwell is lined in marble panels under a sloping coffered roof lit by a long clerestorey window. Inscribed panels bear the names of mayors and freemen of the borough. Flanking these are alcoves, each with a tall pedestal carrying a bronze urn and behind each a bronze medallion of Kings George V and George VI. The stair has moulded balusters and twisted bronze newels, at the base of the stairs with hemispherical fixings for bronze uplighters. At the upper level, the newels carried bronze figures of 'Industry' and 'Peace' by Allan Hawes, removed since 1999, and a coat of arms by Eric Aumonier has also been lost.

A suite of three committee rooms has coved ceilings partly obscured by suspended ceilings, and linking the rooms are monumental pairs of doors in flush marquetry veneer with recessed handles. Walls have shallow recessed panels. The large Travertine door frame from the lobby to the central room remains, but with a replaced reduced entrance. Corridors retain moulded ceilings but all internal doors and doorcases are replaced. The rear stairs are of stone and concrete with metal balustrades.

Since 1978, the council chamber has been subdivided vertically and horizontally with a suspended ceiling fitted at upper level and all fittings removed, including the gallery, ground floor walnut wall panelling, and walnut fittings including seating and tables.

Historical Context

Beddington and Wallington became an urban district in 1915 and gained borough status in 1937. In 1933, in anticipation of this, Raymond Unwin, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, was asked to nominate an architect to produce a scheme for new civic buildings, developing ideas sketched out by the borough surveyor. He chose Robert Atkinson (1883-1952), formerly Principal of the Architectural Association. The town hall and municipal library, set round a small formal garden, were completed in 1935-36. The garden, set round a circular pond in a moulded stone basin, survives quite well. The vase base of the fountain remains, but the putto which sat on the top have gone. The pond is framed in wide stone flag paving leading to lawns, all contained in a shallow stone kerb. Contemporary drawings show the projected layout with shrubs planted formally in each quadrant. The framework of this survives, as does part of the circular stone basin and, whilst of local interest, these features are not included in the listing.

Between 1962 and 1963, Robert Atkinson and Partners added a second storey to the library and built the adjacent Courthouse. The town hall closed after local government reorganisation in the mid-1970s and from 1978 to 1999 became a Crown Court. It now houses local authority adult education colleges. Further alterations in 1988-91 affected the library.

The Architect

Robert Atkinson (1883-1952) was the son of a cabinet maker from Wigton, Cumbria. He trained as an architect in Nottingham and Newcastle. In 1905 he moved to London where he was noted for his skill as a colourist and draughtsman, working for other architects, and was in practice from 1907. From 1913 to 1920 he was Principal of the Architectural Association, resigning to take up the more advisory post of Director which he held until 1929. He was a skilled organiser and highly influential teacher, and with Hope Bagenal published "Theory and Elements of Architecture" (1926). He was an eclectic designer, drawing on a wide range of ideas rather than adhering strictly to current modernist or neo-Georgian trends. He made his name with the Regent Cinema, Brighton (1919-21 and 1923), thought by many to be his masterpiece, though sadly demolished. Towards the end of his career he designed the Barber Institute of Fine Arts for the University of Birmingham, built between 1935-39. But his most familiar surviving work is probably the foyer of Sir Owen Williams' Daily Express building in Fleet Street (1930-33, Grade II*).

Architectural Significance

Wallington town hall stands out from the typical neo-Georgian civic buildings of the inter-war period, and was described at the time as 'of more than ordinary distinction'. Atkinson's wide frame of reference makes the building more sophisticated and advanced than purer neo-Georgian contemporaries. Pevsner (1994) described it as a 'decidedly pretty design', although inferior to the contemporary Dutch architect W.M. Dudok's more daring and modernist town hall at Hilversum in the Netherlands (built 1924-31). However, the combination of modernity and tradition is here more appropriate to the context. It was a period of rapid but innovative expansion in civic buildings. Neo-Georgian inspired buildings contrast with those inspired by continental ideas. Wallington town hall is contemporary with Reginald Uren's Hornsey town hall, the first to follow Dudok's lead, and provides a good counterpart to the Continental model.

The building is designated at Grade II as a well-detailed town hall in a progressive but neo-Georgian tradition by Robert Atkinson, Past Principal and Director of the Architectural Association. It compares well with contemporary but Continental-inspired civic buildings of the 1930s, and forms a strong group of civic buildings with the contemporary library and formal garden, also by Atkinson.