St Ives Guildhall

The first municipal building in St Ives was a medieval guildhall in Fore Street which was completed in 1490.{{cite web|url= https://www.stives-cornwall.co.uk/the-market-house/ |title=The Market House|publisher=St Ives, Cornwall|access-date=28 November 2021}} The local portreeve, John Payne, who held meetings in the old guildhall, was hanged as a rebel during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549. In the 1820s, civic leaders decided to demolish the old guildhall and replace it with a market hall. The new market hall, which included a lock-up on the ground floor and an assembly hall on the first floor, was completed in 1832: the area became a municipal borough with the building functioning as its headquarters in 1835.{{cite web|url= https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10026180 |title=St Ives MB|publisher=Vision of Britain| access-date=28 November 2021}} The assembly room was used as a courthouse as well as a civic meeting place.

Following a significant increase in population, largely associated with the fishing industry, civic leaders decided that the town needed a purpose-built guildhall: the site they selected in Street An Pol, was occupied by a mansion known as The Retreat, which had been the home of the Anthony family and, later, of the Lanham family.{{cite web|url= https://www.stivesclt.org.uk/news/st-ives-history-project/ |title= St Ives Archive History Project|publisher= St Ives Community Land Trust| access-date=28 November 2021}} In the late 19th century, James Lanham had opened an art gallery which was the genesis of the St Ives art colony.{{cite web|url= https://www.stisa.co.uk/history/ |title=The mariners story: a brief history of the St. Ives Society of Artists|publisher= St. Ives Society of Artists| access-date=28 November 2021}}

The new building was designed by a local architect, Geoffrey B. Drewitt, in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1939. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Street An Pol; the central bay featured a deeply recessed doorway with a stone surround flanked by brackets supporting a wide wrought iron balcony which encompassed the centre three bays. The ground floor was fenestrated by rows of six small windows on either side of the central bay while the first floor was fenestrated by tall sash windows and there was a turret at roof level. Internally, the principal rooms were the main hall, the council chamber, the balcony room and the mayor's parlour.{{cite web|url=https://stivesguildhall.co.uk/weddings/ |title=Weddings|publisher=St Ives Guildhall| access-date=28 November 2021}}

The guildhall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century,{{London Gazette|issue=39975|page=5236|date=2 October 1953}} but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Penwith District Council was formed in 1974.{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}} A visitor information centre was subsequently established in the guildhall,{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5nneBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT617 |title= Fodor's England |year=2016|publisher=Fodor's Travel Guides|isbn= 978-1101878484}} which also became the meeting place of St Ives Town Council.{{cite web|url= https://stivestowncouncil-cornwall.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/21.ag_.fac_.02-SEP-Web.pdf |title=Facilities Committee Meeting|date=2 September 2021|publisher= St Ives Town Council| access-date=28 November 2021}}

A bronze sculpture entitled Dual Form, designed by the sculptor, Dame Barbara Hepworth, who lived in St Ives,{{cite book |title=Great women artists |date=2019 |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=978-0714878775 |page=183}} was unveiled outside the guildhall in 1966.{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/dual-form-278748/search/venue:st-ives-guildhall-3277/page/1/view_as/grid |title=Dual Fiorm|first=Barbara|last=Hepworth|publisher=Art UK| access-date=28 November 2021}} In 2024, it was reported that the sculpture would be moved to Kresen Kernow in Redruth while the guildhall underwent renovation.{{cite news |title=Hepworth's Dual Form to take a holiday in Redruth |work=St Ives Times & Echo |issue=5820 |date=15 March 2024 |page=1}}

Works of art in the guildhall include a painting by Mary McCrossan depicting an interior with a still life,{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/interior-with-a-still-life-15235/search/venue:st-ives-guildhall-3277/page/2/view_as/grid |title= Interior with a Still Life|first= Mary |last=McCrossan| publisher=Art UK| access-date=28 November 2021}} and a painting by Robert Borlase Smart depicting a clipper in St Ives Bay{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/clipper-st-ives-bay-15239/search/venue:st-ives-guildhall-3277/page/2/view_as/grid |title=Clipper, St Ives Bay|first= Robert Borlase|last= Smart| publisher=Art UK| access-date=28 November 2021}} as well as a smaller sculpture by Barbara Hepworth entitled Small Form.{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/small-form-278747/search/venue:st-ives-guildhall-3277/page/2/view_as/grid |title=Small Form| first=Barbara|last=Hepworth|publisher=Art UK| access-date=28 November 2021}}

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Category:Government buildings completed in 1939

Category:City and town halls in Cornwall

Category:Buildings and structures in St Ives, Cornwall