Wallsend Town Hall

After Wallsend became incorporated as a municipal borough in 1901, the new civic leaders initially met at the masonic hall in Station Road in Wallsend which had been completed in 1893.[2][3][4] After finding this arrangement inadequate, civic leaders decided to procure dedicated municipal buildings: the site they selected was open land on the south side of High Street East.[5]

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, William Boyd, in 1907.[2] It was designed by E. F. W. Liddle and P. L. Brown in the Edwardian Baroque style, was built at a cost of £15,557 and was officially opened by Alderman George Allan in September 1908.[2] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto High Street East with the end bays projected forward as pavilions; the central section, which slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway on the ground floor, a balcony and a triple window on the first floor and an open pediment containing the town's coat of arms above.[1] On the right of the symmetrical section there two bays which were set back and another two bays which curved round into Lawson Street.[1] The architect installed a turret and dome above the curved section, and a projecting clock by Potts & Sons, which had been a gift from William Boyd, was installed on the face of the right hand pavilion.[1] Internally, the principal room was the council chamber which incorporated nine stained glass windows each of which depicted two heraldic shields of local relevance.[2][6]

Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the town hall and waved to the crowd from the balcony on 29 October 1954.[7][8]

The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of Wallsend Borough Council and became the local seat of government of North Tyneside Council in 1974.[9] It continued to be the meeting place of the council[10] until it moved to new premises at Cobalt Business Park in 2008.[11] After carrying out a local consultation in spring 2009, the council established there was widespread support for refurbishing the town hall and finding an alternative use for it.[12] The town hall, which had become surplus to requirements, was sold to a developer, Sovereign Adavo, in 2014 and a programme of works to convert the building for commercial use was completed in February 2015.[13]