Old Town Hall, Wigan


The Old Town Hall was a former municipal facility at the corner of King Street and Rodney Street in Wigan, England. The building, which was demolished in September 2013, had been designated a Grade II listed building in 1990.

History

The building was the second of three seats of local government in Wigan, built on a plot at the corner of King Street and Rodney Street in Wigan, England, between 1866 and 1867. Next to the Robinsons Brewery, it replaced an earlier town hall constructed in 1720 by the Earl of Barrymore and Sir Robert Bradshaigh, the town's representatives in parliament. The older building remained in use until its demolition in 1882.
Designed by local architects Nuttall & Cook, the two-storey Italianate style structure was built largely of brick in Flemish bond, except for its sandstone ashlar ground floor and some sandstone dressings; the roof was of slate. It cost £12,000 to build, the equivalent of about £ in.
It was the headquarters of the Council of the County Borough of Wigan until the county borough was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in 1974. It then served as the headquarters of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council until 1990, when the council moved its staff to the new Civic Centre and the new Town Hall, formerly the home of the Wigan Mining and Technical College.
The old Town Hall subsequently remained vacant, and fell into a state of disrepair. Part of the rear of the building was demolished, leaving the remainder insecure. A planning application to redevelop the site as office accommodation and 133 residential units was submitted in 2007. After this proposal did not proceed, the building was completely demolished in September 2013.

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