Lambeth Town Hall

The building was commissioned to replace the Old Town Hall in Kennington Road which had been completed in 1853. After the area became a metropolitan borough in 1900, civic leaders decided that the old building was inadequate for their needs and decided to procure a larger building: the site they selected had been occupied by some residential properties. After a design competition that attracted 143 entries, Septimus Warwick and H. Austen Hall were selected to design the building in Edwardian Baroque style. The building was built by John Greenwood Limited at a cost, excluding furnishings, of £40,000 and it was formally opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales on 29 April 1908. The building…

The building occupies a triangular site, with its longest and principal facades at Brixton Hill and Acre Lane. The design involves a symmetrical rounded frontage at the junction of these two roads; it features a doorway flanked by Doric order pilasters and the borough coat of arms above; there are five tall windows with integrated oculi interspersed with Ionic order columns on the first floor. the clock chimes out every 15 minutes. Sculpted stone figures surround the four clock faces, at the corners of the tower, representing Justice, Science, Art and Literature. The main external materials are Portland stone, Norwegian granite and red brick.