Thornaby Town Hall
{{Short description|Municipal building in Thornaby, North Yorkshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name =Thornaby Town Hall
| native_name =
| image = Thornaby Town Hall March 2015 2.jpg
| caption =Thornaby Town Hall
| locmapin = North Yorkshire
| map_caption =Shown in North Yorkshire
| coordinates ={{coord|54.5583|N|1.3027|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| location =Thornaby-on-Tees
| area =
| built =1892
| architect = James Garry
| architecture =Renaissance style
| governing_body =
| designation1 =Grade II Listed Building
| designation1_offname = Former Town Hall
| designation1_date =9 October 1992
| designation1_number = 1320257
| website=
}}
Thornaby Town Hall is a municipal building in the Mandale Road in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The building, which is owned by Thornaby Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.{{NHLE|desc=Former Town Hall|num=1320257|accessdate=28 November 2020}}
History
In anticipation of the proposed merger of Thornaby and South Stockton into the municipal borough of Thornaby-on-Tees municipal borough in 1892,{{cite web |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10042550&c_id=10001043 |title=Relationships / unit history of Thornaby-on-Tees |accessdate=28 November 2020 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001015639/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10042550&c_id=10001043 |archivedate=1 October 2007 }} civic leaders decided to commission a dedicated town hall. The site they selected was a developing area occupied by some clay pits in what had previously been close to the Mandale Marshes just south of South Stockton railway station.{{cite web|url=https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/444950/518054/10/100391 |title=Ordnance Survey Map|year=1860|accessdate=28 November 2020}}{{cite web|title='Parishes: Stockton on Tees', in A History of the County of Durham|volume=3|first=William |last=Page |location=London|year=1928|pages= 348–365|publisher= British History Online|url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/durham/vol3/pp348-365 |access-date= 28 November 2020}}
The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the chairman of the South Stockton local board of health, John Steel, on 25 October 1890.{{cite web|url= https://heritage.stockton.gov.uk/articles/buildings/thornaby-town-hall/ |title=Thornaby Town Hall|publisher=Stockton Heritage| access-date= 28 November 2020}} It was designed by James Garry of West Hartlepool in the Renaissance style, built by W. C. Atkinson and was officially opened as Thornaby Town Hall in 1892.
The design involved a chamfered main frontage at the junction of Mandale Road and Railway Terrace; the corner section featured a double window on the ground floor, an oriel window on the first floor and a clock tower with cupola and weather vane above. The Mandale road elevation featured a doorway with brackets supporting an entablature and round headed windows with stained glass fanlights on the first floor; the Railway Terrace elevation had two bays with windows in a similar style to the Mandale Road elevation, but the bays further along the street displayed conventional sash windows on both floors. However, Nikolaus Pevsner said that the town hall exhibited "a totally undistinguished design on a visually most unsuitable site", in his 1933 The North Riding (Buildings of England) book.{{cite book|last=Pevsner|first=Nikolaus|title= Yorkshire: The North Riding (Buildings of England)|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1933|isbn= 978-0300096651}} The quarter-chiming clock, which was made by Potts of Leeds{{cite web|url= https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/16035390.last-chance-see-inside-thornabys-derelict-late-victorian-town-hall/ |title= Last chance to see inside Thornaby’s derelict late Victorian town hall|date=21 February 2018|publisher=Northern Echo| access-date= 28 November 2020}} and donated by the first mayor of the town, Alderman William Anderson, was started on 27 January 1892. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber and the mayor's parlour.{{cite web|url=https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/4866427.council-angered-by-decision-to-sell-town-hall/|title=Council angered by decision to sell town hall|date=22 January 2010|publisher=Darlington and Stockton Times|accessdate=28 November 2020 }}
The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Thornaby Borough Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the short-lived County Borough of Teesside was formed in 1967.{{cite vob| url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10026659&c_id=10001043| name=Teesside CB| accessdate=28 November 2020| title=Archived copy| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514012047/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10026659| archivedate=14 May 2011| url-status=dead}} It then remained largely unused, in the ownership of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council from 1974, until Stockton Council decided to sell the building to a developer, Python Properties, in January 2010. After the sale to Python fell through in May 2011,{{cite web|url=https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/thornaby-town-hall-future-3688334|title=Does Thornaby Town Hall have a future?|date=26 May 2011|publisher=Teesside Live|accessdate=28 November 2020 }} Stockton Council carried out a consultation on its future use in September 2011.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-15092374 |title=Ideas wanted for future of Thornaby's historic Town Hall|date=28 September 2011|publisher=BBC| accessdate=28 November 2020 }} The consultation resulted in Thornaby Town Council, which had been formed in 1995,{{cite web|url=http://thornabytowncouncil.gov.uk/about-us/ |title=About Us|publisher=Thornaby Town Council| accessdate=28 November 2020 }} agreeing to acquire the building in May 2012{{cite news |title=Deal agreed for Thornaby Town Hall owner after 44 years |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-18131147 |work=BBC News |date=19 May 2012 |accessdate=28 November 2020 }} and completing the transaction in November 2012.{{cite web|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/teesside/10041874.years-legal-wrangling-failed-plans-future-thornaby-town-hall-finally-looks-secure/|title=After years of legal wrangling and failed plans the future of Thornaby Town Hall finally looks secure|date=12 November 2012|publisher=Northern Echo|accessdate=28 November 2020 }}
An extensive programme of renovation works costing £900,000, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund,{{cite web|url=https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/our-work/thornaby-town-hall|title=Thornaby Town Hall|publisher=National Lottery Heritage Fund|date=4 December 2014|accessdate=28 November 2020 }} was initiated by the town council in autumn 2017, with the intention that the works would act as a catalyst for further regeneration in the area.{{cite web|url= https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/you-ever-seen-inside-look-13583312 |title= Have you ever seen inside? Have a look around Thornaby Town Hall before £900k refurb|date=7 September 2017|publisher=Teesside Live| accessdate=28 November 2020 }} After the actual cost of renovation exceeded the budget by £250,000, the town's mayor, Steve Walmsley, indicated in November 2019 that the extra cost would be recovered through council tax increases.{{cite web|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-50615756 |title= Thornaby Town Hall renovation costs force council tax rise|date=30 November 2019|publisher=BBC| accessdate=28 November 2020 }}