Building record 10110 - Town Hall, Northgate Street

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1872-1875, Metric Ten Foot Scale Town Plan of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH6780.

<2> Gwilliam. R.C, 1960, The building of the present Town Hall, Chester (Article in Journal). SCH5865.

The present Town Hall replaced the earlier Exchange on Northgate Street itself destroyed by fire in 1862.

<3> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1376371 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

The Town Hall was built in 1865-69 to a design by WH Lynn of Lanyon Lynn and Lanyon of Belfast although it was partially destroyed by a fire in 1897 and the interior subsequently redesigned by TM Lockwood. The building is of banded pink and buff sandstone with a graded grey-green slate roof. It has two main storeys, a dormer attic and a semi basement and designed in the medieval French style with a substantial symmetrical front facade and a central spire. The entrance is via an opposed flights of steps with a pierced parapet in front of the plain semi-basement lead to a central landing before the porch which is recessed behind a pair of arches with a polished stone central column. The north side to Princess Street is asymmetric with an octagonal stair turret, the top stage expressed as a belfry with a small spire, at the junction of the principal block with the lower rear wing. There are entrances to the magistrates court and the former police station, now the City Record Office; the latter has the lantern of its former blue lamp. The south side and rear are now largely concealed by the Forum Shopping Centre. The building was included on the English Heritage Listed Building Register in 1972.

<4> Lewis C.P & Thacker A.T. (eds), 2005, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume Vii, The City of Chester - The City of Chester, Culture, Buildings, Institutions, p15-20 (Book). SCH6522.

Following its completion the council bought the old butter market in front, subsequently demolishing it. The Town Hall itself was partially destroyed by fire in 1897 affecting mainly the council chambers. The building incorporates the former Magistrates Court, the Police Station and cells, and the Records office.

<5> Canon Morris, D. D (Reverand), 1904, Gleanings from the muniment room of the Town Hall of the city of Chester (Stuart period) (Article in Journal). SCH5532.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1872-1875, Metric Ten Foot Scale Town Plan of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH6780.

<7> Mel Morris Conservation, 2018, Chester Town Hall: Heritage Assessment, R4476 (Client Report). SCH8954.

Heritage assessment produced in 2018 for the Grade II* listed Chester Town Hall, opened in 1869. Study includes documentary research, photographic recording, and assessment of significance of the different areas/aspects of the building, including sculpture/memorials, metal fixtures and fittings, stained/decorative windows, fireplaces, also furniture.