The Town Hall

The Town Hall, built circa 1880, is an example of Early English style architecture designed to suit an unusual triangular site. It is constructed from snecked stone rubble with ashlar dressings, granite colonnettes, and a tiled roof. The south-facing Queens Road elevation presents two storeys and three windows, featuring a parapet with floral decoration, a central pediment with a cross-shaped saddlestone, a tall central rose window, and paired lancet windows with colonnettes. A stone balcony is supported by substantial stone brackets. Other first-floor windows are paired round-headed windows divided by colonnettes.

The Council Chamber on the first floor boasts stained glass windows depicting shields and floral motifs. The ground floor features two paired trefoliated windows and a central arched entrance framed by triple granite colonnettes. The east elevation includes a large first-floor canted bay with a central rose window to the Council Chamber, accompanied by a bellcote. To the left of this section, the building rises to three storeys, while the right side is one storey high with tall arcading featuring quatrefoils, mullioned and transomed windows and a series of carved stone panels. These panels depict scenes including "Hastings Fishermen boarding French Pirates," "Landing of the French and their Defeat," "Queen Elizabeth Granting the Charter to the Corporation," and "Cinque Port Ships Going to meet the Armada." The asymmetrical north elevation is composed of linked components of varying heights, from one to three storeys, displaying features such as tall round-headed openings with quatrefoils, arched doorcases bearing the Hastings Coat of Arms, a two-storey section with a full-height canted bay window, a two-storey section with an oriel, gable and arched doorcase (now a window), and a corner three-storey section with a gable, double round-headed sash windows, and a corner tower.

Inside, the ground floor features an arch-braced ceiling. The imperial staircase is distinguished by a stone quatrefoil balustrade, a marble handrail, newel posts of clustered marble colonnettes, and marble dado panels. Heraldic windows displaying shields and roses grace the main staircase and Council Chamber. The Council Chamber also contains a Baronial-style fireplace with griffins, tiled panels, and colonnettes, along with dado panelling and an arch-braced roof. The Mayor’s Parlour retains its original tiled fireplace, and a further tiled fireplace is found in Committee Room 1. A World War I memorial is displayed as a large panelled wall plaque on the first floor.