Town Hall And Attached Railings

Town Hall and Attached Railings, Brighton

Town hall designed by Thomas Cooper, built 1830-1832 and reconstructed and enlarged 1897-1899. Built of stucco with a parapeted roof in Greek Revival style.

The original structure had four storeys, dominated on each elevation by a two-stage, four-storey pedimented portico with a Doric Order below and an Ionic Order above. The east elevation was the most imposing, appearing to have extra height due to the steep fall in the site. Originally a broad flight of steps filled Bartholomews.

The main block was square in plan with the porticos attached to it. Single-storey pavilions stood at each corner with heavy rebated pilasters, with a lower single-storey range running between each corner and a portico, resulting in a modified Greek Cross plan. The plan and design were never entirely regular from completion. Beyond the giant two-stage porticos, surviving features from the original design include the rebated corner pilasters, windows and architraves under the surviving porticos, simple Tuscan aedicules to the second-floor windows, and the high basement on the east facade with segmental-arched windows. Many of the cast-iron railings appear to survive from the building's completion, although they are very likely no longer in their original positions.

Following reconstruction, the west elevation has a ten-window range, the north seven windows, and the east twelve windows. The centre block is four storeys with three-storey set-back blocks filling the arms of the Greek Cross, with basement and sub-basement throughout.

Each elevation has a giant Doric tetrastyle portico to the centre with an entablature featuring a triglyph and metope frieze, above which sits a giant Ionic tetrastyle portico with pediment. Pairs of clustered corner pilasters articulate the areas between these and the porticos into bays with giant pilasters to the first two floors, covered with banded rustication dating to the late 19th century. All windows are flat-arched. The attic storey's broad, shallow entablature is remnant of Cooper's original design. Flat-arched entrances appear under each portico. The east elevation, rising from a heavily rusticated basement made prominent by the site's fall, sets back at the third floor except for the third- to sixth-window range, whose centre section projects slightly to form a full-height inset with giant Ionic tetrastyle pilastrade on the second and third floors, recalling the original two-tier portico removed during alterations. Ground- and first-floor windows have more elaborate keyed architraves than those on other elevations. A first-floor balcony comprises three curving sections supported by thick brackets, enclosed by panelled socle sections and a balustrade. The eighth- and ninth-window range sets back further than any other facade section, terminating in a chamfered corner.

The interior is dominated by a full-height stairwell on a north-south axis, filled by a nearly free-standing stair structure with office galleries on all sides, dating to the late 19th century. The hall is lit by skylight and floored with mosaics in a floral and wave pattern. A large Council Chamber occupies the second floor in the south range. Police holding cells are located on the east and south sides of the basement and sub-basement. Between 1984 and 1987, Bartholomew House and Priory House were added to the south of the building to provide additional space for municipal offices.