Description

CAMDEN

TQ3081SW HIGH HOLBORN
798-1/105/840 (South side)
15/01/73 Holborn Town Hall and Library

GV II

Town hall and library, now municipal offices. Library
(formerly St Giles's Library), 1894 by W Rushworth (eastern
wing); town hall, 1906-8 by Hall and Warwick (centre and
western wing). Ancaster and Portland stone faced. Steeply
pitched slated roof with pedimented dormers and pilastered
Dutch gables terminating in segmental pediments to end bays.
STYLE: the library with early French Renaissance detail, the
town hall in similar style but Baroque details.
EXTERIOR: 4 storeys, basements and attics. Both buildings form
a symmetrical facade of 9 windows. End bays slightly
projecting. Eastern wing with entrance to former library of
elliptical arch flanked by Corinthian pilasters supporting an
entablature; enriched double doors. Former vehicle entrance to
left in similar style with wrought-iron gate by the Bromsgrove
Guild of Applied Art. Central 3-light oriel through 1st and
2nd floors. At 1st floor level a band of Renaissance
enrichment covering the oriel apron and having flanking oculi.
Upper floors pilastered, the 1st and 2nd floors with bands,
3rd floor with diapers. Western wing has round-arched entrance
to former town hall with moulded head and keystone flanked by
attached columns supporting an open segmental pediment with
carved coat of arms in tympanum with festoon and putti heads.
Central 3-light oriel through 1st and 2nd floors. A band of
similar enrichment at 1st floor level covering the oriel
apron. 3rd floor windows round-arched with moulded heads and
keystones. Central bays have round-arched windows at ground
floor level; 1st and 2nd floor, square-headed separated by
pilasters, the 1st floor with a wrought-iron balcony by the
Bromsgrove Guild; 3rd floor, 3 oculi linked by festoons. Most
windows transom and mullion.
INTERIOR: former town hall has large circular hall running up
through each floor and adjoining the main stair and lift. At
ground floor level main hall with floor of marble in a compass
design and arcade of Doric half columns supporting an
entablature under a shallow dome; oak double doors, with oculi
and brass plates incorporating a coat of arms, in Baroque
frames; 3 stained glass First and Second World War memorial
windows; original brass pendant light. Open well main stair of
artificial stone and granolithic paving with marble dado.
Original wrought-iron lift enclosure, in well of stair, by the

Bromsgrove Guild. Corridors mostly vaulted with granolithic
paving and oak doors. Interiors of note are: the rear 1st
floor Council Chamber of square plan surmounted by a central
dome with small cupola light. Walls panelled in Austrian oak
with Ionic pilasters and columns supporting an enriched
cornice. Windows of small, patterned, leaded panes. Original
brass pendant light. Beneath, on the ground floor, the former
Court Room, panelled and enriched in Baroque style.

Listing NGR: TQ3036381452

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Holborn Town Hall and Library at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q27086332

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

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)