Watford Town Hall

In the early 20th century Watford Urban District Council operated from municipal offices at Upton House in The Parade.[2] The council sought a proper town hall after it achieved municipal borough status in 1922.[3] The site proposed for the new building in Rickmansworth Road had previously been occupied by an old mansion known as "The Elms".[2] The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Rigby Taylor, the Mayor, in 1938.[4] The new building, which was designed by Charles Cowles-Voysey in the Neo-Georgian style,[5] was completed in 1939.[1] It was officially opened by the Countess of Clarendon on 5 January 1940.[4][6] The design involved a concave main frontage of seven bays facing Rickmansworth Road from which wings stretched back to the south west and north west; the central section featured a doorway with a wide cast iron balcony and a shield above; there was a clock with a lantern above at roof level.[1]

The facility also included a large public venue at the south west end of the complex initially known as "Watford Town Hall Assembly Rooms" but now referred to as the Watford Colosseum.[7]

During the Second World War, William Joyce, who as Lord Haw-Haw broadcast Nazi propaganda from Germany to the UK, criticised Watford Borough Council for the fact that the town hall clock was always two minutes slow.[8] Meanwhile British military forces carried out defensive exercises in case German invading forces ever stormed the town hall.[8]

In 1971 the Watford Peace Memorial, which had originally been constructed outside the Peace Memorial Hospital, was moved to a location on the Parade just outside the building.[9]

The town hall remains the headquarters of Watford Borough Council[10] which, in August 2019, initiated a consultation on a rejuventation plan which could see the area around the town hall being turned into a "cultural hub" and the town hall itself being converted into a hotel.[11][12] The council indicated that, while the rest of the building might be redeveloped, the council chamber and committee rooms would be kept in their current use.[12]