The search for land by Hornsey Councillors also included their purchase of another site on which to locate the new town hall. This was Keller’s Field which lay between Middle Lane and Tottenham Lane in Hornsey.
The iconic Art Deco Hornsey Town Hall in Crouch End opened at the end of 1935. Yet the Hornsey Journal, 19 September 1919, refers to town hall plans on this site then. Why did it take so long to realise these ambitions? Where was the original town hall and why did that building and its location have to change?
An extract from a Hornsey Journal editorial 19 September 1919
Ten years ago or more the erection of a town hall for Hornsey was seriously considered by the Town Council. A site was to be had in Tottenham Lane, spacious and with a good frontage. The price asked was somewhere about £2,000 an acre. But there was a call for economy at the time and the scheme was rejected. Now the project has been revived.
Sean Azzopardi will be presenting a two part talk covering his cartoonist/self-publishing career and his new project The Voice of the Hall as part of the Crouch End Festival.
What are your best memories of the Town Hall? What stories can you tell about this landmark building in the heart of Crouch End? Record and share them!
As part of this years Crouch End Festival Steve Amor tells the story of Hornsey Town Hall from the decision to build in Crouch End to the opening ceremony in 1935 – illustrated with remarkable archive photos from the Nobbs archive.
Hornsey’s history as a parish and administrative area goes back to at least the 13th century. For most of that time, Hornsey was a rural backwater in the county of Middlesex but, with the coming of the railways in the 1850s, developers realised the opportunity to create a suburb.
By Bridget Cherry
A history and lavishly illustrated description of Hornsey’s prize-winning and Grade II* listed former Town Hall and adjacent 1930s art-deco buildings.