Former Borough of Poole Municipal Buildings and boundary walls

Municipal offices built 1931-32 for Poole Borough Council, designed mainly by L Magnus Austin working under Borough Surveyor E J Goodacre. With late 20th-century extensions and minor alterations of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Construction and Materials

Steel-framed building with brick and ferro-concrete construction, faced with white reconstructed Empire stone under pantile and felted asphalt roofs. Rendered chimney stacks. Part of the main block's roof has been recovered and modern protective glazing added over the original roof lanterns. Steel-framed Crittall casement windows with margin glazing. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

Plan

The original building has a V-shaped plan consisting of a west-facing main central block flanked by angled side wings of equal length which terminate in short return blocks. A late 20th-century rear (east) extension built between the return blocks has created an enclosed courtyard. Later additions also made to the courtyard elevations of the side wings and return blocks.

Exterior

Built in a restrained neo-classical style incorporating some modern detailing, of two and three storeys with a basement beneath the south wing and southern half of the 1980s extension. Moulded plinth, cornice and deep eaves throughout.

The west-facing front elevation has a central gabled entrance block of three storeys which projects forward. It has an open pediment containing a faience plaque of the coat of arms of Poole by Carter & Co, a keyed semi-circular arch breaking through the second-floor level, and a moulded dentil and impost band. The first-floor balcony has a curved panelled balustrade with a relief carving of the coat of arms (crest), carried on a large bracket with seaweed carving which doubles as the keystone to the doorway below. French casements open onto the balcony. The entrance has a shallow bowed porch inscribed "POOLE MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS", with architrave decorated with shells, starfish, crabs and geometric designs. Recessed double doors with raised and fielded panels, flanked by narrow lights overlaid with bronze vertical grilles and lanterns, with letter boxes beneath. To either side are tall narrow windows with margin lights to the ground and first floors and small square lights to the second floor.

The flanking two-storey outer sections are canted and of three bays. They have two paired inner windows and triple outer windows to each floor, with projecting plain pilasters extending between the floors and rectangular inset panels beneath the windows. The ground-floor panels have pierced fretwork embellished with a sail boat at the centre, and there are fluted panels to the end bays.

The side wings have projecting two-storey outer bays under hipped roofs with pilasters, triple windows and fluted inset panels, and a projecting three-storey central bay also under a hipped roof that has a first-floor balcony. The six bays to either side of the central bay have paired windows, full-height pilasters and inset panels. At the east end of each side wing is a five-bay return block with a triple window to its outer bay and a projecting three-storey bay containing an entranceway with double doors with raised and fielded panels, a deep architrave, flanking narrow lights and narrow triple lights to the upper floors topped by a parapet. The other three bays have paired windows to the ground and first floors and two-light dormer windows under flat roofs.

There are carved square bas relief panels below the eaves of the side wings' central bays, to both faces of the corner bays and on the return blocks—24 in total, designed by Percy A Wise, Principal of Poole School of Art. These depict scenes from Poole's history such as the granting of the Elizabethan charter, the Civil War, and the visit of Charles II.

The courtyard elevations are plainer and partly masked by later additions. Some attention has been given to the design of the rear (east) elevation of the main block, which is divided into three bays by full-height pilasters. It has three pairs of metal-framed French casements (two pairs are modern replacements) with margin glazing, flanking narrow lights and deep toplights to the ground floor, tall painted panels above and small triple windows below the eaves. Flanking lower outer bays of two storeys under flat roofs.

The attached late 20th-century extension which adjoins the return blocks of the side wings is of similar design, materials and ornamentation as the original building but is not of special architectural or historic interest.

Interior

A vestibule leads to a large entrance hall from which the side wings and upper floors are accessed. The geometric-patterned terrazzo floor includes a hexagonal mosaic by Carter & Co depicting the Quay and High Street and some of the town's historic buildings. Compartmental ceiling with decorative cornices. To each side of the hall is a wide dogleg staircase with battered newel posts decorated with small scallop shell motifs (probably bronze), wrought-iron balustrade in the form of stylised waves, and bronze pierced scallop shells below the handrail, also bronze.

The former courtroom/conference room, now the Cattistock Room, beyond the hall has timber entrance doors. Above the doorway is an inset clock and two chevron-patterned leaded glass panels. It has a raised platform on three sides of the room (originally on all four sides), an oak-block floor, stylised triglyph dado with wooden panelling below, and an open oak balustrade to the seating area which has been modified to provide ramped disabled access. Compartmental corniced ceiling.

The first-floor landing, which serves as an ante-room to the council chamber, has a floor mosaic of the Borough's coat of arms by Carter & Co. The octagonal council chamber has distyle in antis piers to the recessed side bays and an entablature with triglyphs. Public galleries with timber fronts to either side of the room, accessed from a half-landing between ground and first floors, and a small balcony carried on four consoles accessed from the second floor. The oak panelling is decorated with carvings of pine cones, scallop shells, rhododendrons, dolphins, and mayoral chains and maces, and is inset with bronze ventilation grilles enriched with a pattern of stylised waves and a central motif of either a Viking long ship or Roman trireme. The furniture is oak and red leather. The clerestory windows incorporate reset stained glass panels brought from the previous municipal building and also depictions of Poole scenes in coloured glass. The ceiling has a circular domed lantern with decorative leaded panes, some with blue glass, and the cornices are enriched with carvings of rhododendrons, pine cones, pine needles and palms.

The second-floor landing has an oak-block floor with a circular open well with wrought-iron balustrade identical to those on the staircases. The rectangular metal-framed rooflight has a geometric pattern and decorative scrollwork to the sides.

The side wings and return blocks are generally more functional in character, with a corridor plan and a subsidiary staircase at the far end. Several first-floor rooms such as the Mayor's former parlour, Members' waiting rooms and committee rooms have dado rails with mouldings, painted wall panelling, bronze ventilation grilles (painted) and plasterwork ceiling roses, friezes and cornices, some enriched with pine cones, palms and rhododendrons. The Mayor's former parlour has a fireplace with four-centred arched surround and a herringbone-patterned tiled inset. Other original fittings include doors to several designs, architrave, door furniture and skirting boards.

There have been some late 20th and early 21st-century alterations including removal of some room partitions to create larger offices, and the addition of some fire doors, inserted ceilings, secondary glazing and a modern lift. The attics (not inspected, 2019) and third-floor areas contain accommodation for a caretaker (unoccupied), meeting rooms and storerooms.

Boundary Walls

Around the outside of the building are low boundary walls which form part of the design. They are probably of rendered artificial stone, with chamfered caps and squat square piers with chamfered caps.

Exclusions

The late 20th-century extension forming the rear (east) of the building and the late 20th-century water feature, raised planting beds and fixed seating within the courtyard are not of special architectural or historic interest and are excluded from the listing.