Description

TORQUAY

SX9164 CASTLE CIRCUS
885-1/14/59 (North West side)
10/01/75 The Town Hall

GV II

Town hall. 2 phases. First phase was the Carnegie Public
Library, 1906-7, to the designs of Thomas Davison of London;
contractor RE Narracott of Stoke Gabriel. Second phase of Town
Hall with committee rooms etc, 1910-11; same architect,
contractor R Wilkins of Bristol (Ellis). Snecked local grey
limestone with freestone dressings; slate roof behind parapet;
stacks with stone shafts with moulded cornices and multiple
pots. Edwardian Baroque style.
PLAN: Main block fronts Castle Circus with central entrance
into stair hall with committee rooms above. Principal hall
entered on the right return (Lymington Road); entrance into
former Public Library on corner between Castle Circus and
Union Street.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and basement; single storey hall. 3-stage
clock tower over entrance. Almost symmetrical 1:5:1:5:1-bay
front; centre and outer bays broken forward with rusticated
quoins; basement masonry rusticated. Projecting cornice with
dentil course below balustraded parapet. Central Doric porch
with 3 columns at each front corner with an entablature with
triglyphs and guttae. First-floor Diocletian stair window with
swags of fruit. Ground-floor windows with Gibbs surrounds with
triple keystones. First-floor windows with moulded architraves
and alternating segmental-headed and gabled open pediments.
Outer bays have round-headed eared niches containing tall
windows with triple keystones. Left-hand window with stained
glass; stone panels with appropriate texts over the niches.
Clock tower has pedimented gabled base supporting a first
stage with triple Ionic columns at the corners with an
entablature. The 2 upper stages are open with angle pilasters
and pinnacles with Baroque finials.
The left (Union Road) elevation, the former library, has a
domed semicircular entrance block, the first floor articulated
with a blind Ionic colonnade with paired columns;
square-headed doorway below. 4-window front to the left.
The Lymington Road elevation has 3 irregular bays to the left
in a similar style and, to the right, the entrance to the main
hall which is 1:3:1 bays, the centre 3 recessed and divided by
triple keystones and text panels above.
The town hall basement is railed off with a good set of
contemporary iron railings including vertical panels with
scrollwork. Pair of fine coeval iron gates to the main porch
incorporating roundels with armorial bearings surrounded by
cartouche work.
INTERIOR: Historic features include 2 flights of stairs rising
from the entrance hall, the wells lined with local and Italian
marbles; marble balustrade; coved plaster ceiling to first
floor. Contemporary joinery includes elaborate committee room
doors with overdoors.
The Town Hall forms an important focus to the upper part of
the town at Castle Circus.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1952-1989:
P.854).

Listing NGR: SX9137464346

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Town Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26503331

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  For the Record
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)