Description

SK 49 SW ROTHERHAM HOWARD STREET (north-east side) 5/51 Town Hall including County 31.12.73 Juvenile Court, Town Hall Assembly Rooms and No 33 Effingham Street (part of item formerly listed as Town Hall). GV II Civic offices with attached courthouse, assembly rooms and shop. Some fabric of 1853 but mostly of 1896-97 by Mr Lovell of London (Council minute October 1893; Whites directory 1917). Deeply-coursed, tooled sandstone, Welsh slate roof. Occupies full length of Howard Street with right return on Effingham Street (Town Hall Assembly rooms with shop on corner beneath) and left return on Frederick Street (County Juvenile Court). Town Hall offices occupy central part of Howard Street elevation. Irregular composition with Classical and Jacobean details. Mostly 2 storeys 1:3:3:4:5: bays to Howard Street with polygonal projection at junction with Frederick Street and total of 6 lst-floor windows beyond; right corner bay and 6 bays facing Effingham Street. Plinth and lst-floor band (various heights). Principal entrance from Howard Street has rusticated round arch flanked by blocked Ionic columns with canopy on console brackets. Two round-headed sashes to left have quoined jambs, impost band and rusticated arches. Large, transomed window above has 5-light flanked by matching blind panels, upper lights keyed. Two cornices separated by swagged panel set beneath shaped gable blind arcade. Three-bay block to left, set forward has rusticated ground floor and quoins above. Three 3-light windows with depressed round arches and round-headed lights. Cartouche and apron to elaborate Ionic Venetian window with blocked archivolt to central light breaking into a boldly swagged frieze; modillioned cornice. Polygonal projection to left end of this block has narrow ground and lst-floor windows linked by strips and with swagged aprons to 1st floor, pediments with linking cornices. Four bays to right of principal entrance: round-headed sashes to ground floor with quoined jambs and keyed arches linked by impost band. First floor sashes with apron panels and moulded sills to shouldered and eared architraves with pediments. Cornice with parapet rising to right as false gable with blind arcading beneath finialled pediment; octagonal turret projection to its right. Five bays beyond have central bay and quoined strip to right breaking forward. Ground-floor sashes in blocked architraves with keyed flat arches. Tall cross- windows to 1st floor have sill blocks, blocked architraves and pediments; scrolled pediment above central bay. Cornice with parapet rising as pediment above central bay. Corner bay has C20 shop front to ground floor beneath transomed 4-light window flanked by pilasters. Cornice beneath small round- arched lights with keystones. Parapet with carved panel inscribed 'TOWN HALL/ ASSEMBLY ROOMS'. Right return: assembly hall entrances to right of C20 shop front. Quoined strip to left with adjacent lst-floor windows as Howard Street facade. Four bays beyond have lst-floor windows with aprons and segmental pediments and 2nd-storey windows with keyed architraves; all in quoined surrounds. Cornice and parapet as on Howard Street. Left return : segmental pediment to door in polygonal projection. 3 windows to left as bays 2, 3, 4 on Howard Street. Three 3-light windows to 1st floor with transoms and pediments linked by cornices. Doorway to left flanked by Ionic columns and with fanlight beneath keyed archivolt; matching archivolts to flanking 4-pane sashes. Segmental pediment of door breaks into apron of 3-light transomed window with single, transomed window to each side, pediments linked by cornice, parapet with ball finials. Attached buildings to left not of special interest. Hipped roofs with a variety of stacks and lanterns. Flat roof to polygonal projection. Interior : Town Hall entrance has mosaic floor with Rotherham arms, Ionic columns. Mahogany-panelled Mayor's Parlour. Oak panelling to other rooms. Decorative ironwork balustrade to stairs, stained glass stair window with arms. More stained glass in 5-light windows of Council Chamber, ornate roof trusses. Assembly Hall retains good iron balustrade to balcony. Assembly Room building built as Rotherham and Masborough Literary Mechanics Institute in 1853. Extensively refronted when incorporated into the Town Hall complex. Photographs of its earlier facade in Neville and Benson (plate 23). R.G. Neville and J. Benson, Rotherham As It Was, 1976.

Listing NGR: SK4290793069

External Links

• Wikidata Q26601062

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

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback