| County Hall | |
|---|---|
.jpg) County Hall fromWestminster Bridge | |
| Location | Lambeth |
| Coordinates | 51°30′7″N0°7′8″W / 51.50194°N 0.11889°W /51.50194; -0.11889 |
| Built | 1911–1939; 87 years ago (1939) |
| Architect | Ralph Knott |
| Architectural style | Edwardian Baroque style |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Designated | 19 October 1951 |
| Reference no. | 1358192 |
  Shown in Lambeth | |
County Hall (sometimes calledLondon County Hall) is a building in the district ofLambeth,London that was the headquarters of theLondon County Council and later theGreater London Council. The building is on theSouth Bank of theRiver Thames, besideWestminster Bridge. It faces west toward theCity of Westminster and is close to thePalace of Westminster. The nearestLondon Underground stations areWaterloo andWestminster. It is a Grade II*listed building.[1]
| County Office Site (London) Act 1906 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
.svg) | |
| Long title | An Act to empower the London County Council to acquire lands for county offices and to construct an embankment in the River Thames and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 6 Edw. 7. c. lxxxvi |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 20 July 1906 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The building was commissioned to replace the mid 19th-centurySpring Gardens headquarters inherited from theMetropolitan Board of Works.[2] The site selected by civic leaders was previously occupied by four properties: Float Mead (occupied by Simmond's flour mills), Pedlar's Acre (occupied by wharves and houses), Bishop's Acre (occupied byCrosse & Blackwell's factory) and the Four Acres (occupied by workshops and stables).[3] It was compulsorily purchased using powers granted by theCounty Office Site (London) Act 1906 (6 Edw. 7. c. lxxxvi).[4]
The main six storey building was designed byRalph Knott. It is faced inPortland stone in anEdwardian Baroque style. The construction, which was undertaken byHolland, Hannen & Cubitts,[5] started in 1911 and the building was opened byKing George V in 1922. The North and South blocks, which were built byHiggs and Hill,[6] were added between 1936 and 1939.[7] The Island block was not completed until 1974.[8]
In 1945, theWorld Trade Union Conference took place at the hall.[9][10]
The Island Block was built on what was then aroundabout (now a peninsula) between County Hall,St Thomas' Hospital andWaterloo Station. It was notable to the passing public for three main reasons: it was of a completely different architectural character to any of the other nearby buildings, it had no entrances at ground level (though there were emergency exits), being accessible only by a bridge and a tunnel both from the SE County Hall building, and it had orange sunshades, designed to be lowered and raised together automatically when the sun shone, rather than by local control which would look less pleasing on the outside. The controls quickly malfunctioned, leaving the unwanted "random" effect while also causing excess heat and glare inside the building which the occupants could not control. Disliked by many Londoners, it was nonetheless considered "distinguished" by its architect and some other experts, and noted as an early example of open-plan office interior, which should have been listed.[11]
For 64 years County Hall served as the headquarters of local government for London. During the 1980s the then powerfulLabour-controlledGreater London Council (GLC) led byKen Livingstone was locked in conflict with theConservative national government ofMargaret Thatcher. The façade of County Hall frequently served as a billboard for opposition slogans which could be seen from the Palace of Westminster.[12]
When the government ofMargaret Thatcher abolished the GLC in 1986, County Hall lost its role as the seat of London's government. Talk soon became of what was to happen to the building, and there were plans to relocate theLondon School of Economics to the site which did not proceed.[13] The building remained in use by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) until its abolition in 1990 when the building was transferred to theLondon Residuary Body and eventually sold to Shirayama Shokusan, a Japanese investor.[13] On 21 October 2005, theHigh Court of England and Wales upheld a bid by Shirayama Shokusan to have theSaatchi Gallery evicted on grounds of violating its contract, particularly using space outside of the rented area for exhibits.[14]
The Island Block was demolished in 2006 to make way for a hotel, thePark Plaza Westminster Bridge. The building, also known asNo 1 Westminster Bridge Road, had been disused since 1986 and had been described as an eyesore.[11]
Ablue plaque commemorates theLondon County Council (LCC), GLC and the Inner London Education Authority at County Hall.[15]
County Hall is the site of a number of leisure attractions including a hub forMerlin Entertainments, which operates theSea Life London Aquarium in its basement,[16]London Dungeon,[17]Shrek's Adventure![18] andLondon Eye[19] in and around the building.[18]
In 2007, County Hall hosted Star Wars: The Exhibition. The exhibition featured original costumes, props, and vehicles from theStar Wars film series and was created to commemorate the 30th anniversary of theoriginal film's release.[20][21]
From 2008 to 2012, the building was home to theLondon Film Museum founded by Jonathan Sands, which exhibited original props, costumes and sets from a variety of feature films.[22]
Since October 2017, the old council chamber has hosted asite-specific production ofAgatha Christie'sWitness for the Prosecution.[23][24]
There are two hotels located in County Hall:
Media related toCounty Hall, London at Wikimedia Commons
