They sold our Town Hall

At the October Cabinet meeting of Greenwich Council councillors voted to dispose of the Borough Hall in Royal Hill.   So we will lose what is almost the last bit of municipal Greenwich.

Once upon a time there was a town called Greenwich, one of the principal towns in Kent; it had a strong manufacturing base, some grand buildings, and a busy town centre.  In 1900 it left Kent to become the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich – covering Deptford St.Nicholas, Charlton and Kidbrooke.  It had a Town Hall in Greenwich High Road and an ex- Workhouse/Hospital in the Woolwich Road. The Borough was very proud of its nurses'  homes in Vanbrugh Hill, and its pioneering TB Clinic in Maze Hill.    Then in 1939 they built their showpiece Town Hall.

Greenwich Town Hall in Royal Hill was very, very special. The architect they appointed was Clifford Culpin – whose father was then the Labour Chair of the London County Council.  However anyone who looks at the net under ‘Clifford Culpin’ can see the long succession of modernist public buildings which he and his partners built in the post war years. Famously Pevsner described Greenwich Town Hall as “the only town hall of any London borough to represent the style of our time adequately”.   It was part of a movement across Europe to build civic buildings differently. It was art deco, functional, ‘avowedly modernist’, to ”consciously reflect” a progressive left-wing Metropolitan Borough. Or as contemporary architectural commentator Owen Hatherley has said, “You gradually realise it is an extraordinary work of art”.  It had a tower from which the people of Greenwich could see the river and it included many interesting decorative features. In brick, it is “ moderate modern.. rectilinear but not aggressive’.  It’s easily the most important modern building in the Royal Borough, probably also in South London.

In 1965 the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich was abolished and, along with Woolwich, became the London Borough of Greenwich. I probably should refrain from pointing out that there were more ex-Woolwich councillors than ex-Greenwich in the new Council.  So – what can I say –by the early 1970s canvassers on many Greenwich door steps were met with ‘they sold our Town Hall’.  But in fact they sold only half of it.  They kept the Borough Hall, letting it out to a variety of organisations.  When Greenwich Dance Agency moved out last year the hall was suddenly announced to be full of asbestos and so should be sold. So there we go.

What was an important town in Kent now effectively has no town centre – apart from one which serves the tourists – and no municipal presence.  You see – they sold our Town Hall.

I’m quoting here – Pevsner & Cherry, South London.  Owen Hatherley ‘Guide to the New Ruins’ , Municipal Dreams blog