County Hall, Glenfield

In the first half of the 20th century meetings of Leicestershire County Council were held at the Assembly Rooms in Hotel Street, Leicester[1] while County Offices were established at No.1 Grey Friars in Leicester in 1936.[2] After deciding that this arrangement was inadequate for their needs, county leaders chose to procure a new county headquarters: the site they selected at Glenfield had previously been open land which they considered was a more economical solution than a city centre site.[3]

Construction on the new building began in spring 1965.[4][5] It was designed by the in-house architectural team in the Brutalist style, was built at a cost of £1.4 million and was completed in November 1967.[4] The design for the five-storey building involved continuous bands of glazing with concrete panelling above and below: a concrete mural depicting the River Soar by Tony Hollaway was unveiled at that time.[4] An extension to accommodate a computer suite opened in 1970 and the Rutland Building extension was completed in 1974.[4] The principal room was the council chamber which was panelled with Japanese teak and Bombay rosewood.[4]

Queen Elizabeth II made an official visit to County Hall during a tour of Leicestershire on 17 November 1989.[6][7] A memorial to commemorate local people from the county who had died since the Second World War was unveiled on 9 November 2012: the memorial, entitled "Stand Easy", was designed by Kenny Hunter from Glasgow and comprised four bronze statues which were modelled on soldiers from Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College.[8][9][10]

Works of art in the building include a painting by John Ferneley depicting the Melton Mowbray Horse Fair.[11] The building also contains a large collection of modern art collected by a former Director of Education, Stewart C. Mason.[12]

The Lord Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year Awards are held annually at County Hall.[13]