Town Hall Rochdale, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

SD 8913 SE THE ESPLANADE (south east side) 11/58 25.1O. 1951 Town Hall (formerley listed as Town Hall and Police G.V. I Station)

Town hall. 1866 - 71, W.H. Crossland; tower 1883 by A. Waterhouse. Ashlar, Westmorland slate roof. The reception room, Lord Mayor's Parlour, the Small Exchange, members lounge and committee rooms are placed to either side of the entrance hall (or the Exchange). The grand staircase rises to the first floor Great Hall and small staircases terminate the essentially axial plan. To the south-west of the hall on the upper floor is the Council Chamber (formerly Court room) and retiring room. Gothic revival in an elaborate form with Continental antecedents. Facade of 14 bays is asymmetrical but balanced with linking bay and tower added to left. Outer bays have triangular gables and are of 3 storeys, although they differ in treatment. The next 2 on left and 3 on right have an arcade across the ground floor, then tiers of plate glass windows, mostly mullioned with cusped heads, and end above a corbelled balcony in a stepped gable richly panelled with blind tracery. The central seven bays (containing the Hall) are flanked to left by a slim octagonal stair turret with stone spirelet and to right by an octagonal stair tower with tall 2-light pointed windows and a steep pyramidal slate roof with cresting. The central 3 bays have a heavily buttressed porte-cochere supporting heraldic beasts and acting as a balcony to the Hall which is lit by tall 3-light windows with geometrical tracery. Battlements behind which rises an immense slate roof with central wooden fleche. The tower, a version of that at Manchester Town Hall rises sheer from the plinth through 3 stages to the broader clock stage where gables surmount each face flanked by pinnacles. Above this a short octagonal lantern carries a stone spire. The whole facade is richly carved with naturalistic foliage in the style of Southwell Minster. The main feature of each return wall is a tall semi-octagonal stair tower with lead windows and pyramidal slate roofs. The rear is comparatively plain, but the centre is occupied by the great stair hall of 3 bays with weathered buttresses and very tall 3-light windows, roofed separately. The entrance hall is 5 x 3 bays with quadripartite red and white stone vaulting, fine carved capitals of Southwell Minster type carved by Thomas Earp, polished granite columns and Minton floor tiles; it forms an undercroft to the hall and was intended as an Exchange. The reception room has 3 pierced diaphragm arches, 2 Tudor arched fireplaces with castellated mantles and heraldic panels, and wall paintings depicting the various machines used in textiles. The Lord Mayor's Parlour has a similar fireplace, chamfered beams carried on corbels representing the sections of an orchestra, William Morris stained glass depicting the seasons and months of the year, and wall paintings. The members lounge has a vaulted ceiling carried on granite corner columns. The Small Exchange has the industries of Rochdale represented in the stained glass and ceiling paintings. The vaulted stair hall has one flight which returns in two with clustered columns rising between the flights. The heavy marble handrail rests on a stone arcade, the upper landings are supported on flying ribs and the stained glass represents the towns with which Rochdale traded. The Great Hall has a painted timber roof with angelic hammer beams: Henry Holiday's wall painting of 1870 depicts King John signing the Magna Carta, the stained glass is by Bayne of Heaton But and Bayne and includes two rose windows to the gables. A large organ is housed in three pointed arches. The Council Chamber and Court Room are elaborately decorated with carved timber fittings. Most rooms have original painted wall pattern designs by Best of Rochdale and oak linenfold panelling of varying designs. The design was selected by competition in 1864 and is an important early departure from High Victorian hea