Former Local Board Offices

The building is a former local board offices, now serving as community rooms and a council office. It was constructed in 1884 by JY McIntosh for the Dalton Local Board. The exterior is of snecked limestone rubble with ashlar sandstone dressings, topped with a graduated slate roof. The building is two storeys high, with a 1:1:3 bay arrangement, the first bay being taller and designed as a crosswing. Bay 2 is slightly recessed and features the main entrance, with panelled double doors and sidelights within a moulded ashlar surround. The surround is adorned with a frieze carved with swags and the scales of Justice, and a dentilled cornice. Above the entrance is a large casement window with the inscription "DALTON LOCAL BOARD/ anno dom. 1884" in raised lettering, topped with a miniature Flemish gable containing a niche. Bays 3-5 have tripartite windows with stone mullions and sashes with glazing bars. A vehicle entrance in bay 5 (now an office) has a basket arch with a raised keystone. A mid-floor cornice sits on a corbel table, and three gables feature blank shields, ashlar copings, and ball finials. Bay 1 projects and includes three sashes with glazing bars beneath a stepped string course. A large council-chamber window, composed of three lights with stone mullions, a transom, a moulded surround, and iron casements with glazing bars, is also present, topped with a cornice. The gable above this window has a plaque featuring a crown, and the end displays ball finials. Sections of pierced balustrade connect to moulded copings with an obelisk finial. A corniced stack rises from the parapet on the left return. A square clock tower boasts an iron balustrade, louvres beneath the clock faces, a leaded ogee roof, and a weathervane. The main roof is characterized by two corniced ridge stacks and an end stack on the right.

The interior features a lobby screen with floral stained glass and a patterned tiled floor. The staircase has a cast-iron balustrade, a carved wooden newel, and a mahogany handrail, complemented by a stained-glass stair window and a coved ceiling. The council chamber (Jubilee Hall) has a panelled dado, a limestone fireplace with an incised Tudor-arched lintel, and tiled insets, including four pictorial designs. A marble plaque above the fireplace details the history of the Dalton Board. The ceiling is supported by four arch-braced trusses, under-drawn at the collar. Contemporary fireplaces are found in other rooms. Originally conceived as a market hall, an engraving illustrating this design appeared in the Dalton News on 4 November 1882, and a copy of this engraving is held at Cumbria Archives, Barrow. The scheme was later revised to create offices and a fire station, as shown in a postcard from 1903. An archway originally provided access to fire station outbuildings in a rear yard, which are listed separately.