| Marylebone Town Hall | |
|---|---|
 Marylebone Town Hall | |
| Location | Marylebone Road,Marylebone |
| Coordinates | 51°31′17″N0°09′36″W / 51.5213°N 0.1600°W /51.5213; -0.1600 |
| Built | 1920 (1920) |
| Architect | Sir Edwin Cooper |
| Architectural style | Edwardian Graeco-Roman classicist style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Designated | 16 January 1981 |
| Reference no. | 1222688 |
  Shown in Westminster | |
Marylebone Town Hall, also known as theWestminster Council House, is a municipal building onMarylebone Road inMarylebone, London. The complex includes the council chamber, the Westminster Register Office and an educational facility known as the Sammy Ofer Centre. It is a Grade IIlisted building.[1]
The building was commissioned to replace the old courthouse at the south end of Marylebone Lane which dated back in part to the 18th century.[2][3][4] After the area became ametropolitan borough in 1900,[5] civic leaders decided that the old courthouse was inadequate for their needs and decided to procure a new town hall: the site selected for the new facility in Marylebone Road had been occupied by a row of residential properties.[6]
The foundation stone for the new building was laid by thePrincess Royal on 8 July 1914.[7] The new building was designed bySir Edwin Cooper in theEdwardian Graeco-Roman classicist style and built by Messrs John Greenwood.[2] After a pause in construction caused by theFirst World War, it was officially opened byPrince Albert on 27 March 1920.[7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with 13 bays facing onto Marylebone Road; the central section of five bays featured a two-storeytetrastyleportico with full heightCorinthian order columns; the doorway was flanked by windows on the ground floor; there were further windows on the first floor and smaller windows on the second floor; acolonnaded tower was erected on the roof.[1]
A public library, which was also designed by Cooper, was built to the west of the town hall in 1939.[2] The council chamber was badly damaged by bombing during theSecond World War.[2] The town hall, which had served as the headquarters of theMetropolitan Borough of St Marylebone for much of the 20th century, ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlargedCity of Westminster was formed in 1965.[8] The damaged council chamber was restored, to a design byT. P. Bennett and Sons, in 1968 to allow it to continue to be used as a meeting place byWestminster City Council.[2]
The building, which continued to accommodate the Westminster Register Office, hosted the marriage ofCilla Black toBobby Willis in January 1969,Sir Paul McCartney toLinda Eastman in March 1969 andRingo Starr toBarbara Bach in April 1981 as well as that ofMelanie Griffith toAntonio Banderas in May 1996 andLiam Gallagher toPatsy Kensit in April 1997.[9] Since the turn of the millennium, it has been the venue of the marriage ofClaudia Winkleman to Kris Thykier in June 2000, Liam Gallagher toNicole Appleton in February 2008 andSean Bean to Georgina Sutcliffe also in February 2008 as well as that of Sir Paul McCartney toNancy Shevell in October 2011.[9]
TheLondon Business School acquired the town hall in November 2012[10] and, with financial support from theOfer family, spent £60 million on refurbishing and improving it.[11] The improvements, which were designed bySheppard Robson, included a new glass and steel link structure between the town hall and the library allowing access to the new education facility known as the "Sammy Ofer Centre".[7] The improvements also allowed continued access to the council chamber and the Westminster Register Office using the civic steps.[7] The facility re-opened again in January 2018.[11][12]