Location of Gloucester Guildhall in Gloucestershire
Gloucester Guildhall is a former municipal building in Eastgate Street,Gloucester, which is now used as an arts and theatre venue. It is a Grade IIlisted building.[1]
The original town hall, known as "the Tolsey" meaning "town hall", was a 15th-century building located on the corner of Westgate Street and Southgate Street.[2] It was rebuilt in theneo-classical style in 1751 but was inadequate for the needs of civic leaders by the late 19th century.[2]
The site chosen for the new building had previously been occupied bySir Thomas Rich's house, the initial home ofSir Thomas Rich's School,[3] but had become vacant when the school moved to the site of the former Crypt School in Barton Street in 1889.[4]
The new building, which was designed by George H. Hunt in theFrench Renaissance style, was completed in 1892.[1] The exterior design involved five bays with an entrance flanked bypilasters on the ground floor; there were fivefrench doors withfanlights interspersed by fourIonic order pilasters together with a central stone balcony on the first floor; there were three circular windows with a mouldedarchitrave above them on the second floor andvases were erected at roof level.[1] Internally, the principal rooms on the first floor were the main hall and the council chamber.[1] Works of art contained in the guildhall included a silver gilt roundel dated 1563 bearing the arms ofSir Thomas Bell, a former mayor of Gloucester.[5]
For much of the 20th century the guildhall was the meeting place of thecounty borough of Gloucester; it continued to be the local seat of government following the formation of the enlargedGloucester City Council in 1974.[10] However, in 1985 the council decided to move their meeting place to a converted warehouse atGloucester Docks.[2]
The ground floor was converted into offices in 1987; a lease on the floor was taken by a branch ofCheltenham & Gloucester which, in September 2013, evolved into a branch ofTSB Bank.[11] Meanwhile, on the upper floors, an arts centre was established; the council chamber was converted into a cinema with capacity to seat 100 people in 1991, while the main hall, which has a capacity to seat 400 people, is still available for public use.[1][12] Therock band,EMF, recorded a video of their first single, "Unbelievable", which reached number 3 on theUK Singles Chart,[13] in the main hall one night in 1990.[14]
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