LEICESTER’S Town Hall will mark a significant milestone on Friday (7 August) as it celebrates its 150th birthday.
To commemorate the anniversary, the city council has created an illustrated guide to the Leicester landmark on its Story of Leicester website.
Using archive photographs to help tell the Town Hall’s story, the webpage explains how, by the 1870s, the corporation had outgrown its previous home at the medieval Guildhall and commissioned the construction of an impressive new building on the site of a former cattle market off Horsefair Street.
Designed in the Queen Anne style by local architect Francis J Hames, the new Town Hall took two years to build. When complete, it housed the council offices and council chamber, the law courts, the sanitary department and the school board. It also accommodated 30 lamplighters, who were responsible for keeping the gas lamps burning, and the Borough Police, who had 13 cells in the basement.
The building’s official opening – on 7 August 1876 – was led by the Mayor, Alderman William Barfoot, and was followed by a banquet at the Corn Exchange for some 400 of ‘the principal gentlemen connected with the borough and the county’.
The celebrations continued into the evening with live music and a ‘grand display’ of fireworks.
On Friday (7 August), 150 years after its formal opening, the city council will mark the anniversary with a small ceremony in front of the building.
The Lord Mayor of Leicester, Cllr Kulwinder Singh Johal, will cut a celebration cake at 4pm, which will be shared with those gathering to watch in Town Hall Square.
Before the ceremony – at 3pm – there will be a chance to join a guided tour of the Town Hall. Places on the tour are free of charge but must be booked in advance by emailing cityhall-reception@leicester.gov.uk
Assistant city mayor Cllr Vi Dempster said: "For 150 years, the Town Hall has been at the heart of our city and has witnessed so much of Leicester’s history.
“It’s a building that means a great deal to many people today – as a meeting place, as a landmark, or even as the place where they got married!
“This anniversary is a chance to celebrate both its remarkable past and its place in the city today."
More information about the Town Hall’s 150 year history – including stories of some of its famous visitors and its encounter with a World War II bomb – can be found on the Story of Leicester website.
Photo caption: The Town Hall under construction: 1874-1876