Brick, asymmetry and a clean clock tower: the building that brought modern architecture to England’s town halls.
At a glance
Hornsey Town Hall, on the Broadway at Crouch End in north London, opened in 1935. The young New Zealand-born architect Reginald Uren won the competition for it with a design in the new continental manner, brick, asymmetrical, with a slim clock tower, owing much to Willem Dudok’s town hall at Hilversum. It is often called the first Modern Movement public building in England.
Key facts
- Location: The Broadway, Crouch End, London
- Architect: Reginald Uren
- Opened: 1935
- Style: Modern Movement (Dudok-influenced)
- Award: RIBA London Architecture Medal, 1935
History
The borough of Hornsey held a competition for a new town hall, and Uren’s modern design beat more traditional rivals. Built in warm brick, it grouped a council chamber, offices and a public hall around a courtyard, with a tower as its only vertical accent.
It won the RIBA medal in the year it opened, a sign that modern architecture had arrived in English public building. After the borough was absorbed into a larger council, the hall passed through decline and has since been restored for arts and community use.
What you see
There is no symmetry and almost no ornament: planes of brick, long bands of windows, and a clean clock tower rising at one side. The debt to Dudok’s Hilversum is plain. After the columns and domes of Victorian town halls, the restraint was a quiet revolution.
Practical information
- Open: arts and events venue; exterior viewable any time
- Cost: free to view; events ticketed
- Best for: the brick massing and the clock tower
- Time needed: 15–20 minutes
Getting there
The town hall is on Crouch End Broadway in north London. It is a bus ride from the nearest Underground and Overground stations at Finsbury Park, Highgate and Hornsey.
Nearby
- Crouch End — the village-like district around the hall
- Alexandra Palace — the great Victorian hall on the hill nearby
Sources
- Wikipedia — Hornsey Town Hall
- Historic England — listed building record
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
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