Naas Town Hall

File:Town Hall, Naas, County Kildare, Ireland.jpg

The building was commissioned by Naas Corporation as a gaol in the late 18th century. The site selected by the corporation had been occupied by a 14th century fortified house, known as White's Castle, which was demolished in around 1786.{{cite web|url=http://www.kildarearchsoc.ie/vol-xvi-no-4-198384the-castles-of-naas/ |title=The Castles of Naas|first=Ben|last=Murtagh|publisher=Kildare Archaeological Society|volume =16|year=1983| access-date=5 November 2023}} The new building was designed in an austere and plain style, built in stone and completed in 1796.{{cite web|url= https://www.archiseek.com/2021/1796-former-town-hall-naas-co-kildare/ |title=1796: Former Town Hall, Naas, County Kildare|publisher=Archiseek| access-date=5 November 2023}} The original design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Main Street North with the end bays projected forward as pavilions. The central section of three bays contained a doorway with voussoirs and a keystone on the ground floor, and had small sash windows on all three floors. The end bays were decorated by large arches on the second floor but were devoid of any windows.{{cite web|url=https://kildarelocalhistory.ie/naas/a-short-history-of-naas/naas-town-hall/ |title=Naas Town Hall|first=Paddy|last=Behan|publisher=Kildare Local History| access-date=5 November 2023}} The gaol was extensively used during the Battle of Naas, in which the town was defended from rebels led by Michael Reynolds during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.{{cite news|url=https://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/local-news/61970/Naas-Town-Hall-history-is-reprinted.html|title=Naas Town Hall history is reprinted|date=4 July 2014|newspaper=Leinster Leader| access-date=5 November 2023}}

Naas Corporation was abolished under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 and the building lay empty until it was acquired by the newly-formed town commissioners in 1854. It was converted into a town hall and offices for the town commissioners in 1861, and a distinctive triangular projecting clock with two faces, designed and manufactured by John Chancellor of Dublin, was paid for by public subscription and installed on the front of the building in 1866.{{cite web|url=https://kildarecoco.ie/AllServices/Planning/Part8Schemes/Library/P8201813%20Planning%20Report.pdf |title=Naas Town Hall: Proposed Change of Use to Town Library: Planning Report|page=5|publisher=Kildare County Council|date=1 November 2018| access-date=5 November 2023}} The building became the offices and meeting place of Naas Urban District Council when it was formed in 1900.{{cite web|url= https://kildare.ie/ehistory/index.php/farewell-to-the-four/ |title=Farewell to the Four: Kildare's Town Councils gone but not forgotten|date=13 March 2015| access-date=5 November 2023}}

The building was re-faced by a local contractor, John Eacret, to a design by John Joseph Inglis of Dublin in the Italianate style in the early 20th century. The central bay was canted forward and given a porch with a segmental headed doorway; there was a round headed window on the first floor and a pair of small round headed windows on the second floor, all surmounted by a segmental gable. The bays flanking the central bay were fenestrated in a similar style and were surmounted by castellated parapets. Meanwhile, the end bays were fenestrated by segmental headed windows on the ground floor, by round headed windows on the first floor and by Venetian windows on the second floor, all surmounted by the original open pediments.{{Cite web|url=https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/11814041/naas-town-hall-main-street-north-naas-west-naas-kildare|title=Naas Town Hall, Main Street North, Naas West, Naas, County Kildare|publisher=National Inventory of Architectural Heritage|access-date=5 November 2023}} A Carnegie library was established on the ground floor to the right of the doorway. Following completion of the works, the building re-opened on 1 November 1905.{{cite web|url=https://www.dia.ie/architects/view/2719/INGLIS-JOHNJOSEPH#tab_works |title=Inglis, John Joseph|publisher=Dictionary of Irish Architects| access-date=5 November 2023}}

On 18 May 1915, the Irish songwriter, Percy French, gave a concert in the town hall.{{cite web|url=http://www.naastown.com/history.asp |title=History of Naas Town|publisher=Naas Town.com|access-date=4 November 2023}} Then, on 15 April 1918 as part of the Irish anti-conscription movement of 1918, a demonstration was held outside the town hall to protest proposals by the Lloyd George government to introduce conscription in Ireland: attendees included the local member of parliament, John O'Connor.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4jzBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT61 |title= The War of Independence in Kildare |first= James |last=Durney|year= 2013|publisher=Mercier Press|isbn= 978-1781172292}}

The building continued to be used as the offices of the urban district council until 2002, and subsequently as the offices of the successor town council. However, it ceased to be the local seat of government in 2014, when the council was dissolved and administration of the town was amalgamated with Kildare County Council in accordance with the Local Government Reform Act 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/act/1/enacted/en/print |title= Local Government Reform Act 2014|publisher=Irish Statute Book| access-date=4 November 2023}}

An extensive programme of refurbishment works, intended to allow the library service to relocate from Harbour View, commenced on site in November 2020.{{cite news|url= https://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/news/589807/contract-signed-and-full-plans-revealed-for-redevelopment-of-naas-town-hall-as-library-and-cultural-centre.html |title= Contract signed and full plans revealed for redevelopment of Naas Town Hall as library and cultural centre|date=18 November 2020|newspaper=Leinster Leader| access-date=5 November 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.countykildarechamber.ie/e5-9-million-investment-for-new-cultural-centre-for-naas-welcomed-by-county-kildare-chamber/|title=€5.9 million investment for new Cultural Centre for Naas welcomed by County Kildare Chamber|date=19 November 2020|publisher=County Kildare Chamber| access-date=4 November 2023}} The works, which created a new cultural centre as well as a new library, were undertaken by Duggan Lynch at a cost of €5.9 million to a design by Deaton Lysaght Architects, and were substantially complete by late 2023.{{cite news|url= https://www.ireland-live.ie/news/kildare-now/1327432/kildare-naas-main-street-footpath-closure-is-necessary-to-complete-work.html |title= Naas main street footpath closure 'is necessary to complete work'|date=19 October 2023|newspaper=Ireland Live| access-date=4 November 2023}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last= Mulvey|first=Mick|title=From Castle Keep to Council Chamber — The Story of Naas Town Hall|year=2013}}

{{City and town halls in Ireland|state=collapsed}}

Category:Government buildings completed in 1796

Category:City and town halls in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Naas