Call Stone Magistrates Court Town Hall

The building comprises assembly rooms, initially known as White Hall, situated on a sloping site and constructed in 1825 by Francis (& George?) Webster. In 1859, it was converted for use as a Town Hall by George Webster, and further extended in 1893 by Stephen Shaw, as indicated by the date inscribed in the pediment. The facades are constructed with hammer-dressed, banded stone at ground floor level, and ashlar above, incorporating a sill band, eaves band, and cornice. The Highgate elevation features an open parapet of turned stone balusters with covered urns on plinth blocks at each end, along with two ornate dormers and a clock tower centrally positioned. Completing the structure are steeply-pitched, hipped, graduated slate roofs.

A three-bay addition was made to the left of the Highgate elevation in 1893. The ground floor entrance features panelled double doors set within a richly decorated doorcase, displaying the date and a cartouche beneath an open and broken pediment. To the left, two semicircular-headed windows are positioned with Call Stone, which originates from the Stricklandgate Market Cross, historically used for proclamations over three centuries. The first floor includes a sash window above the entrance, set within an architrave with splayed feet and a swan-neck pediment, all framed by a segmentally-pedimented surround, and two further sashes within corniced architraves to the left. A dormer window is incorporated into the pedimented architrave.

The two-stage clock tower above the entrance includes semicircular-headed louvred openings; a swan-neck pediment between the stages bears a cartouche featuring the initial 'B', commemorating Alderman William Bindloss, the Mayor who donated the bells. The second stage displays a large, circular clock face within an open-pedimented surround. The ogee lead roof is surmounted by a small lantern with a weather vane.

The former White Hall comprises the three symmetrical right-hand bays of the Highgate elevation and fourteen bays on Lowther Street. Highgate features central panelled double doors with a semicircular fanlight and semicircular-headed windows on either side. The first floor presents a pedimented Ionic loggia in antis with a cast-iron balustrade, and sash windows within corniced architraves to either side. A central Venetian dormer window, within an ornate pedimented surround, was added in 1893, replacing a mid-19th century clock tower. On Lowther Street, the three bays at either end feature semicircular-headed windows on the ground floor and tall first-floor sashes. The lower ground floor, housing the Magistrates Court (the three eastern bays), incorporates a recessed, panelled double door in a corniced surround, with two windows to the left. The eight central bays display semicircular-headed windows on both floors. All windows retain their original glazing bars.

The interior is richly decorated, predominantly with fittings from 1893. Notable features include a hall cornice with wreaths within the frieze, a staircase with a spiral curtail and ornamental iron handrail (with a similar rear stair), an ornate wooden chimneypiece in the Council Chamber, Doric pilasters supporting a coved segmental ceiling in the Assembly Hall, and galleries supported by cast-iron pillars in both the Court Room and the Assembly Hall.