Restoration: Shoreditch Town Hall

Following the creation of the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch in 1899, the Shoreditch Vestry Hall was extended westwards by adding a tower and an extra three bays to the five bays that already existed to the designs of William Hunt. The foundation stone for the extension was laid, on 9 September 1901 and the building opened in 1902. After a major fire in the assembly hall in August 1904 , that part of the building was rebuilt to the designs of Alfred Cross in 1904

The design followed those developed by Cross for public baths with steel arches spanning the space. It comprises a curved ceiling of 6 bays, ribbed and coffered with glazed skylights, a proscenium arch with masks of comedy and tragedy and large shell niche to stage with lyre. A balcony on three sides is decorated with cornucopias and the sides and rear of the ground floor are lined in marble panels of three colours.

SHOREDITCH - At the last meeting of the Shoreditch Borough Council a committee reported that they had considered sketch plans submitted by Mr. A. W. S. Cross for the reinstatement of the town hall. The committee adopted a design providing for a steel arched roof with a fire-resisting gallery and proscenium, with male and female dressing-rooms, and for a connecting passage at the back of the stage, in accordance with the sketch and plans submitted. The committee recommended that this report be received and their action approved, and Mr. A. W. S. Cross, of Maddox Street, W., be appointed architect for the reinstatement of the town hall at the usual scale of charges, with instructions to proceed at once with the specification and estimate. The report was agreed to. [Building News 25 November 1904 page 756]

Reference        Building News 25 November 1904 page 756