Epsom Town Hall

The first town hall in Epsom was a building designed by John Hartchard-Smith in the Italianate style which was completed in 1883; located at the corner of Church Street and Upper High Street, it was built with terracotta facings and featured a prominent Venetian window in the middle of a curved corner frontage.[1][2] In the early 1930s, civic leaders decided to demolish the old town hall and procure a new building: the site they selected was vacant land on the north side of The Parade.[3] The site had previously been occupied by a domestic residence which was being referred to as "Cromwell House" by the 18th century.[4]

The new building was designed by Hubert Moore Fairweather and William Alfred Pite in the Neo-Georgian style and was officially opened by the former local member of parliament, Lord Ebbisham, in 1934.[5][6] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seventeen bays facing onto The Parade with the end three bays at each end slightly projected forward; the central bay featured a doorway flanked by two pairs of pillars supporting a balcony with iron railings; there was a French door above the doorway on the first floor and sash windows in all other bays on the ground floor and the first floor.[6] Internally, the principal room in the building was the council chamber.[7][8]

The building served as the headquarters of Epsom Urban District Council, and from 1937, when the area became a municipal borough, it served as the headquarters of Epsom Borough Council.[9] It remained the local seat of government when the enlarged Epsom and Ewell Borough Council was formed in 1974.[10]

In the early years of the new millennium civic leaders decided to relocate various council departments that had been accommodated around the borough into an expanded town hall facility: a new block was constructed to the east of the main building with a modern atrium and new portico which linked the two blocks: the expanded facility was brought into use in 2003.[11] In a small ceremony at the town hall in June 2019, Station-Sergeant Thomas Green, the victim of the Epsom riot which took place at the end of First World War, was commemorated when his great-grandson, David Kirkham, donated Green's service medals so they could be put on display at the local museum.[12]

Works of art in the town hall include a painting by Hendrick Danckerts depicting Nonsuch Palace[13] and a painting by William Birch depicting Epsom Downs Racecourse.[14]