Southport Town Hall

The town hall was designed by Thomas Withnell and built at a cost of about £4,500 between 1852 and 1853. The building was extended to the rear in 1859, and was further extended in 1865, and again later in the 19th century. The town hall was the headquarters of the county borough of Southport but ceased to be the local seat of government when the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton was formed in 1974. The main administrative base for new council was established at Bootle Town Hall although the council continued to maintain a presence in Southport by holding some of the meetings of its full council at Southport Town Hall. In 2012 a blue plaque was erected outside the town hall to recognise the…

Southport Town Hall has a stuccoed façade painted white, and a slate roof in Palladian style. It has a rectangular plan plus extensions to the rear. The hall is in two storeys with a basement, and it has a symmetrical front of seven bays. Between some of the bays are paired pilasters, giving a window arrangement of 1:2:1:2:1. The basement and ground floor are rusticated. Between the floors are a frieze and a cornice, the upper cornice being dentillated. In the centre of the building is a double parallel staircase with a balustraded parapet. This leads to a porch flanked by a pair of pilasters and a fluted Doric column on each side. On top of the porch is a triglyph frieze, a cornice, and a…