Kensington Vestry Hall

In the first half of the 19th century parish leaders met in a room attached to St Mary Abbots Church.{{cite book|editor1-last=Sheppard |editor1-first=F. H. W. |chapter=The village centres around St. Mary Abbots church and Notting Hill Gate|title=Survey of London: Volume 37, Northern Kensington|date=1973|publisher=London County Council|location=London|pages=25–41|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol37/pp25-41#h3-0010|accessdate=October 3, 2016|via=British History Online}} In 1851, the newly appointed improvement commissioners decided that this arrangement was inadequate and chose to commission a purpose-built vestry hall; the site they chose had previously been used as a burial ground by the church.

The new building was designed by the architect, James Broadbridge, in the Elizabethan style,{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006201830/page/n383/mode/2up?q=kensington|title=New Vestry Hall, Kensington|publisher=The Builder|page=373|date=12 June 2021}} was built by Thomas Corby in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £5,000 and was completed in 1852.{{cite web|title=Watercolour of Kensington Vestry Hall by the architect James Broadbridge, 1852|url=https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/vmgallery/general/medium.asp?gallery=vm_democracy&img=democracy/thumb/vm_lg_0013.jpg&size=medium|website=Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea|accessdate=October 3, 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/M414850/New-Vestry-Hall-Kensington|title=New Vestry Hall, Kensington|publisher=Look and Learn|access-date=7 August 2021}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4JLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA196|title=Kensington Picturesque & Historical |page=196|first1=William John|last1=Loftie|first2=William|last2= Luker|publisher=Palala Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1341566011}} Its completion was met with dismay by ratepayers, who complained about the outlandish railings.{{cite book|last1=Denny|first1=Barbara|last2=Starren|first2=Carolyn|title=Kensington Past|date=1998|publisher=Historical Publications|location=London, U.K.|isbn=9780948667503|oclc=42308455|pages=7–8}} The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Kensington High Street with the end bays gabled and slightly projected forward; the central bay, which also slightly projected forward, featured an arched porch with a stone surround, a prominent bay window on the first floor and a heraldic frieze and an octagonal clock turret at roof level. The unsightly railings were finally removed in 1880.

By the 1870s the improvement commissioners were already finding the building too small and they relocated to a more substantial building in 1880.{{cite web|url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/redirect.aspx?id=7096%7CLONDON%27S%20TOWN%20HALLS|title=London's Town Halls|page=136|publisher=Historic England|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702061100/https://research.historicengland.org.uk/redirect.aspx?id=7096%7CLONDON%27S%20TOWN%20HALLS|accessdate=5 May 2020|archive-date=2020-07-02}} The old vestry hall was then converted for use as the Kensington Central Library and was officially re-opened in that capacity by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll in November 1889.{{cite book|last1=Denny|first1=Barbara|last2=Starren|first2=Carolyn|title=Kensington Past|date=1998|publisher=Historical Publications|location=London, U.K.|isbn=9780948667503|oclc=42308455|page=152}} The building remained in use as a library for much of the 20th century until the Kensington Central Library relocated to a new site on Hornton Street in 1960. The old vestry hall was listed as Grade II by English Heritage on 15 April 1969 and, by 1998, it was "the only substantial remnant" of what the street looked like during the Victorian era. It subsequently became the home of Bank Melli Iran.{{cite news|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/iran-s-shrinking-commercial-empire-in-london-1.823946|title=Iran's shrinking commercial empire in London|date=10 February 2019|newspaper=The National News|accessdate=7 August 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/08/21/Newspaper-says-Iran-financed-IRA/9417777441600/|title=Newspaper says Iran financed IRA|date=21 August 1994|newspaper=UPI| accessdate=7 August 2021}}

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Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1852

Category:1852 establishments in England

Category:Grade II listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Category:Kensington