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Council Offices, Welwyn Garden City

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Municipal building in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England

Council Offices, Welwyn Garden City
Council Offices, Welwyn Garden City
LocationThe Campus, Welwyn Garden City
Coordinates51°48′15″N 0°12′20″W / 51.8041°N 0.2055°W / 51.8041; -0.2055
Built1937
ArchitectCecil Harry Elsom
Architectural style(s)Neo-Georgian style
Council Offices, Welwyn Garden City is located in HertfordshireCouncil Offices, Welwyn Garden CityShown in Hertfordshire

The Council Offices, also known as the Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council Offices, is a municipal building on The Campus in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. The structure accommodates the offices and meeting place of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.

History

After Sir Ebenezer Howard initiated the development of a garden city at a site a mile south of the village of Welwyn in 1920, the Canadian town planner, Louis de Soissons, was asked to prepare a masterplan for the area. That masterplan envisaged a long boulevard on a north–south axis with a semi-circular green, which would be known as The Campus, at the north end. After the parish of Welwyn Garden City was made an urban district on 1 April 1927, making it independent of the Welwyn Rural District Council, the new civic leaders decided to commission a civic complex around The Campus. The new council offices were designed by Cecil Harry Elsom in the Neo-Georgian style, built in red brick and were officially opened on 6 January 1937.

The complex also included a fire station, erected immediately to the southeast, of the council offices, and a new public library equipped with 18,000 books, although the library service relocated to Guessens Road in autumn 1939.

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto The Campus. The central bay featured a square headed doorway with an architrave and a wide stone surround flanked by stone piers supporting a balcony with iron railings and finials. There was a French door, which allowed access to the balcony, in the central bay on the first floor. The other bays were fenestrated by sash windows on both floors and, projecting from the hipped roof, there were five flat roofed dormer windows. There was also a central clock tower with an ogee-shaped roof and a weather vane. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber on the first floor.

During the Second World War, air raid wardens were posted on the roof to watch out for incendiary bombs. The building continued to serve as the offices of the urban district council for much of the 20th century, and then became the headquarters of the enlarged Welwyn Hatfield District Council when it was formed in 1974. After the fire service moved to Bridge Road East in 1978, the council offices were extended to the southeast and to the north. The council chamber was refurbished by Borras Construction at a cost of £712,000, to a design by RPS Group, in 2016.

References

  1. Registrar General (1927). Statistical Review of England and Wales. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 122. Retrieved 17 September 2021. Ministry of Health Order No. 71,611 – The Hertfordshire (Welwyn Garden City Urban District) Confirmation Order, 1927
  2. "Council Offices, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire (Exterior)". Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  3. New Council Offices, Hertfordshire Mercury (Hertford), 8 January 1937, page 7
  4. Clapson, Mark (2020). Live, Work and Play A Centenary History of Welwyn Garden City. The History Press. ISBN 978-0750995313.
  5. Welwyn Garden City Public Buildings. Vol. 91. The Surveyor. 29 January 1937. p. 196. New Council Offices and Fire Station. Welwyn Garden City, Herts, came into formal possession of new public offices and a fire station on the 6th inst.
  6. Rabbitts, Paul; Jeffree, Peter (2021). Welwyn & Welwyn Garden City in 50 Buildings. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1398102484.
  7. "Council Offices, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire (Interior)". Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  8. "Grandparents came to Welwyn Garden City in 1920". Hertfordshire County Council. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  9. Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  10. "Council Offices". Welwyn Garden City Heritage Trail. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  11. "Welwyn Garden City Conservation Area Appraisal". Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. 1 September 2007. p. 18. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  12. "New £712K Welwyn Hatfield Council chamber looks set to get the go ahead". Welwyn Hatfield Times. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  13. "Welwyn Borough Council Chamber" (PDF). Acoustic Products. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
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