Former Town Hall and Medway Arts Centre

The building is a former town hall, now a Medway Arts Centre, built in 1899 by GE Bond and converted in 1988. It is constructed of bath limestone ashlar with a rock-faced ragstone plinth and a slate roof topped with a copper cupola.

The building is in a Free Renaissance style and has an irregular quadrangular plan with a central well. The south-west front features three and a half bays, with a symmetrical five-bay section including a projecting three-window centre. The ground floor is rusticated, and cornices delineate the floors. A raised, pedimented centre displays the date 1899. The ground floor has round-arched windows, the first floor has tripartite windows featuring the Chatham City arms, and the second floor has round-arched windows with foliate aprons. A three-bay left-hand section has attached columns with figures at the top and blocked pilasters below. Blocked round arches at ground-floor level were originally entrances, while first-floor arches are now open with balustrades. A three-stage square tower is located on the left, featuring a curved balcony, a clock on each side, an open bell turret with projecting corners and paired columns, and an octagonal domed cupola. The north-west elevation has four bays and a central canted bay on the first and second storeys, with round-arched ground-floor windows. The south-east elevation, facing the former Council Chamber, is divided by pilasters and has paired round-arched ground-floor windows and large, depressed three-centre arched upper windows with mullions, transoms and carved aprons. The right-hand gable return is divided into three sections with a large three-centre arched upper window in a raised central section, topped with a pedimented parapet. A two-storey range at the north corner includes a chamfered corner with a large five-light oriel on a moulded, corbelled base. A balustrade runs around the entire building.

The interior is richly detailed and includes a large entrance hall with a curved staircase featuring a decorative rail and newel. The enriched former Council Chamber on the first floor has a cast-iron balcony, wainscotting and panelling. A large former meeting hall has a proscenium arch and six roof trusses. The Mayor’s Parlour retains original sanitary fittings and ceramic tiles, along with half-glazed doors with enriched surrounds.