Sheffield Town Hall
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Sheffield Town Hall
By Gregor Gosciniak
12 February 2007: Compared with the town halls of most other industrial towns and cities in Northern England, the Town Hall of Sheffield was built rather late. In the middle of the 19th century, Sheffield City Council was not keen on having its own representative town hall since it had other and more urgent priorities – such as improving the living conditions of its people, who had suffered from a trebling of population between 1843 and 1893. So spending money on erecting a grand monument to the municipality could wait.
In 1886 Sheffield City Council bought the land on which the Town Hall now stands, and shortly afterwards launched an architectural competition for its design. Some 178 designs were submitted and the winner was London-based architect E. W. Mountford. Work started in 1890 and was completed in1897 when Queen Victoria officially opened it - but many citizens criticised its extravagant decoration.
Carvings by F. W. Pomeroy adorn the exterior and its clock tower, 64 metres high, is enriched with friezes depicting Sheffield’s industries. To some extend its design echoed the architecture of the adjacent St. Paul's Church of 1720, which has long since been demolished.
Only four years after the opening, the need for an extension was discussed. But lack of money, and the outbreak of the Great War, meant a delay until 1923 when an extension, designed by architect F. E. P. Edwards, was added and opened by The Prince of Wales. The building, still used by Sheffield City Council, contains a popular publicly displayed collection of silverware.
The Town Hall also houses the office of Lord Mayor Jackie Drayton, who is the 110th Lord Mayor of Sheffield. She has been a Member of Sheffield City Council, representing her home Ward, for nearly ten years. During this time she has been involved in many areas of public work, including education and projects to do with regeneration and area action, housing and successful neighbourhoods. Lord Mayor Drayton is a Director of the Sheffield Co-operative Development Group.
Entrance to Sheffield Town Hall
Also by Gregor Gosciniak
Liverpool Town Hall
Liverpool's town hall (town hall), one of the oldest historical buildings in the City of Liverpool, is home to the City’s Lord Mayor. The present city hall is the third to have been built on or near the current site. The first city hall was built in 1515, the second one in 1673. Today’s city hall, first conceived in 1748 and completed in 1754, was re-built between 1795 and 1820. The dome, which is topped by the Roman goddess Minerva, was erected in 1802.
The council chamber was added to the building in 1811 and the ballroom, the last addition to the city hall, was opened In 1820. In 1775 the American War of Independence caused a depression in trade with New York and as a result sailors’ pay was cut. Sailors took to the streets, and riots occurred. At the height of the riots, some 50 ships were anchored in the Mersey River and a ship’s cannon was used to attack the city hall – albeit without success.
Some 20 years later, after having survived the riots, a fire destroyed much of the building. But by that time the city hall had become such a vital part of city life that the authorities immediately planned for its rebuilding and commissioned the well known London architect James Wyatt with the design of a new civic centre. More