St Albans Town Hall

The first civic building in St Albans was the moot hall which was completed in 1570.[2] After the moot hall became dilapidated, a discussion took place on the location of the new building: the justices preferred a site in Romeland whereas civic leaders preferred St Peter's Street. It was eventually agreed to proceed with a new building, which would accommodate both a town hall and a courtroom, in St Peter's Street.[3] The new building, which was designed by George Smith in the neoclassical style was completed in 1826.[1] The area formed part of the Liberty of St Albans at that time.[4]

The Bribery Commission held hearings in the building in 1851 to investigate the "cash for votes" scandal which had involved the local Whig Party candidate, Jacob Bell, buying votes, typically at £5 per vote; the Commissioners found that some 308 voters had received money for their votes and they decided that the Borough of St Albans should lose its parliamentary representation (the constituency was re-established in an enlarged form in 1885).[5]

In 1874, for judicial purposes, Hertfordshire was divided into two divisions by Act of Parliament, the eastern part of the county to be the Hertford division and the western part to be known as the Liberty of St Albans Division, each maintaining separate quarter sessions, but being a single commission of the peace. The Act made clear that, despite its name, the St Albans division was not to be deemed a liberty in any future legislation.[6]

The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of St Albans City Council during first half of the 20th century but after the council moved to the new Civic Offices further north along St Peter's Street in 1966,[7] the Civic Offices became the regular meeting place for the council.[8] The town hall also ceased to a venue for judicial purposes when the Crown Court moved out of the building in the 1990s.[9]

Following a programme of conversion works costing £7.75 million carried out to a design by John McAslan and Partners,[10] the St Albans Museum, which had been located in Hatfield Road until it closed in that location in September 2015, re-opened in the town hall in June 2018.[11]

The design involves a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the Market Square; the central bay features a podium on the ground floor containing three sash windows supporting a tetrastyle portico with Ionic order columns and a large entablature and pediment above.[1] Internally, the principal rooms are the assembly hall, which also functions as a ballroom, and the courtroom, which has an octagonal shape and is paneled.[12]

• St Albans Museums

Media related to Court House (Town Hall), St Albans at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website