Middlesbrough Town Hall

The current building was commissioned to replace an Old Town Hall in the Market Place in the St Hilda's part of the town. After population growth, largely associated with the steel industry, Middlesbrough became a municipal borough in 1853 and civic leaders decided to procure a new town hall on open land in a developing area to the south of the Middlesbrough branch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The foundation stone for the new building was laid in 1883. It was designed by George Gordon Hoskins of Darlington and built at a cost of £130,000. The official opening was performed by the then Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) on 23 January 1889. The…

The building is of sandstone ashlar with slate roofs, built around four sides of a courtyard with the main town hall on the north side. As well as offices and conference rooms, it contains a still intact, fully restored courtroom and a sizeable theatre. The basement crypt also serves as a concert hall. It is built in a revived "French Gothic" style, with courtyard elevations in a "Domestic Revival" style. It was one of the last large Gothic style town halls to be built in England, towards the end of the 19th century. The town hall element has one storey centre with two-storey end pavilions. The building features statuary by W. Margeston of Chelsea. To the east are a complex of modern civic…