Tower Hamlets Town Hall
Frontage of the Town Hall, 2023
Location160 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1BJ
Coordinates51°31′07″N 0°03′36″W / 51.5186°N 0.0601°W / 51.5186; -0.0601
Built1757 (façade)
ArchitectBoulton Mainwaring (façade)
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (conversion)
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameThe London Hospital
Designated21 September 1973
Reference no.1065788
Tower Hamlets Town Hall is located in London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Tower Hamlets Town Hall
Shown in Tower Hamlets

Tower Hamlets Town Hall is a municipal facility in Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel, London. The new structure, which has been commissioned as the headquarters of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, incorporates the façade of the old Royal London Hospital which is a Grade II listed building.[1]

History

The original hospital was designed by Boulton Mainwaring in the neoclassical style, built in red brick and opened in September 1757.[2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Whitechapel Road; the central section of five bays featured an arcade of round headed windows on the ground floor, a mullioned window with tracery spanning the first and second floors in the left hand bay and sash windows on the first and the second floors in the other four bays.[1] The windows were flanked by full-height Doric order pilasters supporting an entablature and a pediment with a clock in the tympanum.[1] The Barts Health NHS Trust, who operated the hospital, vacated the old hospital building when it completed its relocation to modern facilities to the south of the old hospital in spring 2016.[3]

In February 2015 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council acquired the old hospital for £9 million and announced plans to convert it into a new "civic centre" to which it would relocate from its existing premises at Mulberry Place.[4][5] The project was intended to bring wider regeneration benefits to the Tower Hamlets area.[6] Planning consent for the conversion was given in March 2018.[7]

The construction required to deliver the conversion commenced in February 2019.[8] The work is being undertaken by Bouygues at a cost of £109.5 million to a design by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.[9][10] The design involved the retention of the listed facade and the construction of three new buildings behind the facade arranged around a new public square.[8][11] The new building opened on 1 March 2023.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "The London Hospital (1065788)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  2. ↑ Historic England. "The London Hospital (1065788)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  3. ↑ "Skanska sells London hospital stakes". The Construction Index. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  4. ↑ "Old Royal London Hospital sold for £9m to Tower Hamlets council for a new town hall". Docklands and East London Advertiser. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  5. ↑ "Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman spends £9m turning old hospital into council 'palace'". Evening Standard. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "Developing London: Whitechapel Civic Centre". Exigere. p. 34. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "London's Tower Hamlets Council approves £100m civic centre". Construction Enquirer. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Bouygues starts Tower Hamlets town hall project". Construction Index. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  9. ↑ "Contractors appointed for Tower Hamlets' £105m new town hall in Whitechapel". East London Lines. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  10. ↑ "Cash-strapped Tower Hamlets splashes out £3m on award-winning architects for civic centre". Evening Standard. 15 May 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  11. ↑ "Royal London Hospital - front block, Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel E1 - Tower Hamlets". Historic England. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  12. ↑ "Historic Whitechapel building reopens as Tower Hamlets' new town hall". East London Lines. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
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