Oxford Town Hall

Oxford Town Hall
View from the southwest
Location within Oxford city centre
General information
Type	Town hall, museum, former library and police station
Architectural style	Jacobethan
Location	St Aldate's, Oxford
Coordinates	51°45′06″N 1°15′25″W / 51.7516°N 1.2569°W
Construction started	1893
Completed	1897
Owner	Oxford City Council
Design and construction
Architect	Henry Hare
Designations	Listed Grade II*

Oxford Town Hall is in St Aldate's Street in the centre of Oxford, England.^[1] It is a centre of local government in the city and also houses the Museum of Oxford. Oxford is a city with its own charter, but the building is always called the "town hall". Parts of the building can be hired for events.^[2]

History

Oxford's Guildhall was built on the site in 1292. It was replaced by the first Town Hall in 1752, designed by Isaac Ware. In 1891, an architectural design competition was held for a new building on the same site. The local architect Henry Hare won with a Jacobethan design. The 1752 building was demolished in 1893 and the current building was completed in 1897.

The new building originally housed the public library and police station as well as the city council. During the First World War, the building was converted into the Town Hall section of the 3rd Southern General Hospital. From 1916, it specialised in treating soldiers suffering from malaria.^[3] In 1936 Oxford City Police moved to a new police station further down St Aldate's. The central public library is now in the Westgate Centre in Queen Street.

See also

• Oxford City Council

References

1. Hibbert 1988, pp. 454–455.
2. "Oxford Town Hall – The Venue for All Occasions". Oxford City Council. 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
3. "Third Southern General Hospital in Oxford in World War I". www.oxfordhistory.org.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-10.

Sources and further reading

• Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Town Hall". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
• Rose, Geoff (1979). A Pictorial History of the Oxford City Police. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-86093-094-7.
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 302. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
• Tyack, Geoffrey (1998). Oxford An Architectural Guide. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 259–262. ISBN 0-19-817423-3.

External links

• "Virtual Tour of the Oxford Town Hall". Oxford City Council Virtual Tours. Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford. 2004.
• Jenkins, Stephanie (13 September 2012). "The new Town Hall, Oxford". Oxford History, Mayors & Lord Mayors.

Coordinates: 51°45′6″N 1°15′26″W / 51.75167°N 1.25722°W