| Bootle Town Hall | |
|---|---|
 Bootle Town Hall | |
| Location | Bootle |
| Coordinates | 53°26′44″N2°59′40″W / 53.4456°N 2.9945°W /53.4456; -2.9945 |
| Built | 1882 |
| Architect | John Johnson |
| Architectural style | Renaissance style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Town Hall and Front Wall, Oriel Road |
| Designated | 17 January 1986 |
| Reference no. | 1075891 |
  Shown in Merseyside | |
Bootle Town Hall is a municipal building in Oriel Road inBootle,Merseyside, England. The building, which is the headquarters ofSefton Council, is a Grade II listed building.[1]
After significant population growth in the later half of the 19th century, largely associated with Irish immigration attracted by work at theLiverpool docks,[2] and following the incorporation of Bootle-cum-Linacre as amunicipal borough in 1868,[3] civic leaders decided to procure a dedicated town hall: the site they selected was open land north of Baliol Road.[4]
The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, John McArthur, on 8 July 1880.[5] It was designed byJohn Johnson in theRenaissance style[6] and was officially opened by the mayor, Alderman William Poulson, on 10 April 1882.[7] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with eight bays facing onto Oriel Road; the left hand bay featured a large round headed window on the first floor with apediment above, while the second bay featured a round headed doorway with atympanum flanked byCorinthian order columns supporting an open pediment with a two-stage clock tower above.[1] The next three bays featureddormer windows at roof level while the last three bays featuredmezzanine floor windows.[1] Internally, the principal room was the assembly hall at the north-west corner of the site, which featured stained glass windows depicting thecoats of arms ofLancashire towns.[1] The mayor's parlour, council chamber, committee rooms and ante-rooms were all on the west side of the complex, facing Oriel Road, while the offices of the Town Clerk and other corporation officials were on the north side, accessed by a separate entrance on Trinity Road.[8] The building was extended to the south by five bays to include a library and museum in 1887.[9] The town hall became the headquarters of the newcounty borough of Bootle in 1889.[10]
King George VI andQueen Elizabeth visited the town hall and met with civic leaders in May 1938.[11] Memorabilia associated withCaptainFrederic John Walker, who gained a reputation for his successfulanti-submarine warfare exploits in theBattle of the Atlantic during theSecond World War, includes two paintings, naval ensigns, theGeneral Chase signal flags and the ships's bell fromHMSStarling which was given to Bootle Town Hall in October 1964.[12][7] The colours of the 7th Battalion theKing's Regiment (Liverpool), which had been based at Park Street in Bootle and which evolved to become the 40th (The King's) Royal Tank Regiment in 1938, were laid up in the town hall in October 1966.[7]
The building continued to be the local seat of government when theMetropolitan Borough of Sefton was formed in 1974.[13] The main administrative base for new council was established at Bootle Town Hall[14] although the council continued to maintain a presence in Southport by holding some of the meetings of its full council atSouthport Town Hall.[15] In March 2020, the town hall, along with theAtkinson Art Gallery and Library andWaterloo Town Hall, was the venue forA Nightingale's Song, a video production produced by Illuminos as part of Sefton's Borough of Culture celebrations, which involved the projection of a story describing local coastal communities onto prominent buildings.[16][17][18]
Works of art in the town hall include a painting by Marcel Gillis depicting the fabledAngels of Mons which protected theBritish Army in theFirst World War[7] and a painting byEdward Halliday depicting the40th (The King's) Royal Tank Regiment parading beforeQueen Elizabeth II atBuckingham Palace in October 1960.[7]