Maidenhead Town Hall

Maidenhead Town Hall is a municipal building in St Ives Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England.

Maidenhead Town Hall
Maidenhead Town Hall
LocationSt Ives Road, Maidenhead
Coordinates51.5219°N 0.7187°W / 51.5219; -0.7187
Built1962
ArchitectNorth & Partners and Sir Hubert Worthington
Architectural style(s)Neo-Georgian style
Shown in Berkshire

History
The 18th century guildhall, demolished in 1963

A medieval guildhall was constructed in the High Street around 1430 and replaced by a larger guildhall, designed by Theodosius Keene in the Italianate style, in 1777.[1][2] In the late 1950s Maidenhead Borough Council decided to demolish the aging 18th guildhall and replace it with a modern facility.[3]

The site selected for the new building had previously been occupied by a 16th century mansion known as St Ives Place.[4] King Henry VIII granted St Ives Place to Anne of Cleves for life as part of his divorce settlement with her in 1541.[5] In the 18th century it had become the home of Peniston Powney, the MP for Berkshire[6] and by the early 1920s it was owned by another politician, Lord Desborough.[5]

The new building, which was designed by North & Partners and Sir Hubert Worthington in the Neo-Georgian style, was officially opened by the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, in June 1962.[7][8] The Desborough Suite, which was created to offer conferencing and theatre facilities, was named in honour of the former owner of St Ives Place.[9]

The building was used as a location for several of the "Carry On" series of films starting with Carry On Doctor in 1967.[10] It was the meeting place of Maidenhead Borough Council until 1974 when it became the headquarters of the enlarged Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council.[11] The town hall was extensively refurbished, to a design by McBains Cooper, at a cost of £1.6 million, in 2014,[12] and proposals for the refurbishment of the Desborough Suite, a cost of £2 million, were approved in 2019.[13]

References
  1. Elias Kupfermann; Carol Dixon-Smith (5 November 2014). Maidenhead Through Time. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4456-3853-9.
  2. Charles Kerry (1861). The History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Bray, in the County of Berks. Published by the author. p. 143.
  3. "A life-changing year in the life if the mayor". Slough & South Bucks Express. 27 May 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  4. "Postcard, Maidenhead Free Library". Windsor Museum. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  5. Ditchfield, P H; Page, William (1923). "'Bray with the borough of Maidenhead: Introduction, borough and manors', in A History of the County of Berkshire". London: British History Online. pp. 93–107. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  6. "Powney, Peniston (1699-1757), of Ives Place, Maidenhead, Berkshire". History of Parliament. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  7. Pevsner, Nikolaus (2010). Berkshire. Yale University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0300126624.
  8. "Do you have a royal souvenir for the diamond jubilee exhibition?". Slough & South Bucks Express. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  9. "Combined charities fair in Maidenhead this week". Maidenhead Advertiser. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  10. "Maidenhead Town Hall becomes a hospital for Carry on Doctor in 1967". Get Reading. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  11. "Welcome". Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  12. "Maidenhead Town Hall". J. Coffey. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  13. "Desborough Theatre to get £2 million refurbishment". Maidenhead Advertiser. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
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