Town Hall

Reigate Town Hall

A former Town Hall, Court House and fire station, now serving as the Town Hall and Citizens Advice Bureau. Designed in 1899 by Hugh McIntosh and Newman and completed in 1901, it is built in the Arts and Crafts style.

The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with Bath stone dressings, a slate roof and stone stacks. The main structure comprises two halves built in mirror image: the Court House and Police facilities to the right and the Municipal buildings to the left, with an attached Fire Station linked to the left by a verandah.

The main building is two storeys with eight windows to the centre, but large projecting pavilions at either end with three bays. The centrepiece features eight windows with the penultimate ones on either side set within projecting open pedimented gables on elaborate pilasters, incorporating tall round-headed staircase windows of modified Venetian form. Below these are elaborate cambered arched doorcases with three giant keystones and panelled pilasters. Above are stone panels inscribed "Municipal Buildings" over the left side entrance and "Court House and Police" over the right side entrance. The municipal buildings entrance has set back double doors with a side light and letter box, decorated with stone swags and mash ornament above. A parapet with moulded coping and cornice runs along the top.

The first floor features six round-headed cross casements with strapwork design in the tympanum and stained glass roundels. The ground floor has four cambered headed mullioned and transomed casements: five light to the centre and two light at the ends. The projecting pavilions are two storeys with three windows and hipped roofs topped with octagonal lead cupolas with wooden louvres and copper finials. They have deep bracket eaves cornices. The first floor of these pavilions displays three round-headed Venetian type windows with swansneck pediments to the centre. The right-hand pavilion additionally has a basement with similar cambered casements to those of the ground floor.

The right side elevation features an elaborate brick and stone chimneystack and similar windows to those on the front of the pavilion. The rear elevation comprises a series of gables with round-headed windows to the first floor and a later central extension in matching materials. This extension is two storeys and attics with three bays, a hipped roof and square cupola, with windows matching those on the front elevation.

The former Fire Station, now Citizens Advice Bureau, is attached to the main building by a brick cambered arched verandah, which is now glazed in. It is built in identical materials and is two storeys and attics with three windows. The front has a hipped slate roof with a central attic gable supported on pilasters, which are themselves supported on a broken cornice. A cambered three-light sash window is set in the attic, with three similar windows to the first floor. The ground floor has three cambered four-light windows and a central cambered opening for fire engines, which has been glazed in during the 20th century.

The principal architectural feature is a four-storey tower attached to the right-hand corner, crowned with a pagoda-style stone roof. The top stage is open with a large bracket cornice, corner piers, two columns with Ionic-derived capitals and stone balustrading. It has end quoins and mainly slit windows, except for a first floor three-light cambered opening elevated by pilasters.

The interior is particularly opulent on the Municipal buildings side. Ground floor corridors are finished with two-tone green glazed tiles. The staircase has white marble balustrading and a square post with elaborate brass lamp. The dado panelling is finished in red marble. The original Council Chamber displays particularly fine Art Nouveau decoration. Windows contain multi-coloured stained glass with rose motifs. The stone fireplace features a cambered arch decorated with eight masks of children, and above it is the emblem of Reigate flanked by half-columns. Half-paneled walls surround a pilastered doorcase with an ovolo moulded plaster band above. The ceiling features crown posts and a bracket cornice with swags between. A most unusual deep plastered frieze contains panels with Mercury on one side and Venus on the other, surrounded by young girls in contemporary dress representing various virtues including Industry, Agriculture, Painting, Sculpture, Music, Architecture, Justice and the Martial Arts. A large pilastered oval ceiling rose with masks and swags completes the decoration. The doors have elaborate brass finger boards with heart motifs. The first floor corridor has marble dado panelling and a tessellated pavement. The Mayors Parlour features elaborate ceiling roses. The Members cloakroom has a wooden fireplace with Art Nouveau foliate motifs.

The Court House and Police side is more restrained, with an almost identical main staircase of painted wood and tiled dado. The staircase window contains stained glass with the Royal Coat of Arms. The former Magistrates Court is finished with oak panelling, paired bracket cornice and moulded beams on corbels. Four police cells survive in the basement, one having a complete iron door with spyhole and food hatch.