Bishop Auckland Town Hall Arts Centre

The building, which was designed by John Philpott Jones in the Gothic Revival style for the Bishop Auckland Town Hall and Market Company, was financed by private issue of shares and officially opened on 28 October 1862. When it opened facilities included a large lecture hall capable of accommodating 800 people and a temperance hotel. The mansard pavilions were an unusual feature imported from France which were copied a few years later by Bellamy and Hardy in their design for Retford Town Hall. The building was acquired by the local board of health in 1888 and it became the headquarters of Bishop Auckland Urban District council in 1894. The works included the conversion of the main assembly…