Description

SD 5192 NW & NE KENDAL HIGHGATE
(East side)

7 & 8/34 Town Hall,
Magistrates Court, &
24-4-51 Call Stone

G.V. II

Assembly Rooms, known as White Hall, on sloping site; 1825 by Francis (&
George?) Webster. 1859 converted for use as Town Hall by George Webster. 1893
(date in pediment) extended by Stephen Shaw. Hammer-dressed, banded, ground
floor; 1st floor ashlar, with sill band. Eaves band and cornice. Highgate
elevation has open parapet of turned stone balusters with covered urns on plinth
blocks at each end; 2 ornate dormers with clock tower between.
Steeply-pitched, hipped, graduated slate roofs. 2 storeys with attic to
Highgate, and cellars to Lowther Street, elevations. 3-bays (2:1) added to left
on Highgate elevation in 1893: Panelled double doors in richly-decorated
doorcase with date and cartouche in open and broken pediment; 2
semicircular-headed windows to left with Call Stone on ground between (part of
Stricklandgate Market Cross, from which proclamations have been made for over 3
centuries). 1st floor: Sash over door in architrave with splayed feet and
swan-neck pediment, all within segmentally-pedimented surround; 2 sashes in
corniced architrave to left. Dormer window in pedimented architrave with
splayed feet. 2-stage clock tower (above door) has semicircular-headed louvred
openings; swan-neck pediment between stages has cartouche with initial 'B' (for
Alderman William Bindloss, Mayor, who gave the bells). 2nd stage has large,
circular, clock face in open-pedimented surround. Ogee lead roof is surmounted
by small lantern with weather-vane. Former White Hall comprises 3 (symmetrical)
right-hand bays (1:1:1) of Highgate elevation and 14 bays (3:8:3) on Lowther
Street. Highgate: central, panelled double doors and semicircular fanlight
with semicircular-headed window to either side. 1st floor: Pedimented Ionic
loggia in antis with cast-iron balustrade; sash in corniced architrave to either
side. Central Venetian dormer window, in ornate pedimented surround, added in
1893 (replacing mid Cl9 clock tower). Lowther Street: 3 bays to either end
have semicircular-headed windows to ground floor and tall 1st floor sashes;
lower ground floor to Magistrates Court (3 eastern bays) has recessed, panelled
double door in corniced surround with 2 windows to left. 8 central bays have
semicircular-headed windows to both floors. Glazing bars to windows on both
elevations. Interior: Richly decorated, mainly 1893 fittings. Hall cornice
has wreaths to frieze; staircase with spiral curtail to ornamental iron handrail
(rear stair similar). Council Chamber has ornate wooden chimneypiece; Assembly
Hall has Doric pilasters carrying coved segmental ceiling. Both Court Room and
Assembly Hall have galleries supported on cast-iron pillars.

Listing NGR: SD5149392633

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Kendal Town Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26605083

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

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)