Extensions to the Town Hall at Oldham

In 1876, Oldham Town Hall was described as “utterly inadequate to meet the needs of the Corporation”. The old building, dating from 1841, had only seven rooms on the ground floor to house the police station, magistrate’s court and council staff while the first floor contained the council chamber and a hall for public meetings. However, the Corporation were unwilling to follow the lead of its neighbours, Manchester, Bolton and Rochdale, all of which had spent vast amounts on prestigious new town halls. An extension to the existing building was eventually agreed at a cost of £12,000 and work started in 1877. On completion the costs had risen to almost £30,000, and for a time the public were suitably outraged. The extension, with a handsome facade to Greaves Street, faced in local sandstone, contained a new courtroom for the Petty and Quarter Sessions, and a new police station with several cells.  Its main feature, a grand top-lit staircase led to the public rooms, including a new Council Chamber. However, the extension quickly proved inadequate, with complaints that it could only hold 130 for dinner, and further extensions were forced upon the Council in 1912.

OLDHAM - The new building added to the Town Hall at Oldham was opened last week. The new building is situated in Greaves street, at the rear of the old Town Hall, and connected therewith by a flight of steps leading from the present staircase, and opening out into a spacious hall in the new structure. The building is of such a character that if at any time it were decided to take down the present old building the one just erected would form one of the side wings of the completed scheme, and would entail no cost whatever in alteration. The Greaves street elevation is built entirely of stone, and is in the Classic style, with square columns and capitals of the Corinthian order. The main feature of the design consists, first, of a basement, the upper mouldings of which indicate the level of the ground floor. Above the basement the columns run through two stories, and carry the main architrave and cornice, which is surmounted by an open balustrade, with solid piers at intervals. Prominent features in this elevation are the two ventilating turrets from the cells. Between the wall columns are the ground and first floor windows, the former with square heads the latter with circular arches. The Mill street elevation has been designed with a view to its subsequently forming one side of an open square; and to preserve the light as much as possible it has been faced with white glazed bricks. The whole of the works have been carried out from the plans and under the superintendence of Mr. George Woodhouse, architect, Bolton, and Mr. Edward Potts, architect, Oldham. The cost of the whole of the alterations, including furnishing and decoration, has been about £24,000. M. James Martin was the Clerk of the Works. [Building News 24 October 1879 page 507]

Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 5 May 1877. Page 5 - Contracts (advertisement repeated at intervals throughout the month)
Reference    Building News 24 October 1879 page 507