Former Town Hall and Medway Arts Centre

Old Town Hall, The Brook, Chatham, Medway, ME4 4SE

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1268228
Date first listed:: 01-Jun-1990
List Entry Name:: Former Town Hall and Medway Arts Centre
Statutory Address:: Old Town Hall, The Brook, Chatham, Medway, ME4 4SE

User submitted image — Uploaded by Wendy Rathbone This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 1999-08-12
Reference:: IOE01/00773/04
Rights:: © Mr M.K Lofthouse. Source: Historic England Archive

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1268228
Date first listed:: 01-Jun-1990
Date of most recent amendment:: 21-Nov-1996
List Entry Name:: Former Town Hall and Medway Arts Centre
Statutory Address 1:: Old Town Hall, The Brook, Chatham, Medway, ME4 4SE

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Old Town Hall, The Brook, Chatham, Medway, ME4 4SE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Medway (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ 75855 68148

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 27 June 2023 to amend the name and address TQ7568SE 762-1/2/7

CHATHAM THE BROOK Old Town Hall

(Formerly Listed as DOCK ROAD (North East side) Former Town Hall and Medway Arts Centre, previously listed as DOCK ROAD Town Hall and Medway Arts Centre)

01/06/90

II

Town hall, now arts centre. 1899, by GE Bond, converted 1988. Bath limestone ashlar with ragstone rock-faced plinth and slate roof with copper cupola.

STYLE: Free Renaissance.

PLAN: irregular quadrangular plan with central well.

EXTERIOR: three storeys and basement; south west front is three and a half bays. Symmetrical five-bay section has projecting three-window centre, rusticated ground floor and cornices between floors, with a raised, pedimented centre dated 1899; four round-arched ground floor windows, tripartite first floor windows with the Chatham City arms, and round-arched second-floor windows with foliate aprons. Three-bay left-hand section divided by giant attached columns to upper floors with figures on top and blocked pilasters beneath, blocked round arches to ground floor are entrances and to first floor open with balustrades. To the left, a three-stage square tower with a curved balcony and clock to each side, with an open bell turret with projecting corners with paired columns, and an octagonal, domed cupola. North west elevation is four bays with a central first and second storey canted bay, and round-arched ground-floor windows. South east elevation to former Council chamber has eight bays divided by pilasters, paired round-arched ground floor windows and large depressed three-centre arched upper windows with mullions and transoms and carved aprons, the right-hand gable return in three sections with a large three-centre arched upper window in a raised central section, with pedimented parapet. North corner a two storey range including a chamfered corner with a large five-light oriel on a moulded corbelled base. Balustrade extends all round.

INTERIOR: richly detailed, includes a large entrance hall with curved stair with decorative rail and newel, first floor enriched former Council Chamber to rear has a cast-iron balcony, wainscotting and panelling, large former meeting hall with proscenium arch and six roof trusses, Mayor's Parlour with original sanitary fittings and ceramic tiles, and half-glazed doors with enriched surrounds.

Listing NGR: TQ7585568148

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 462086
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Newman, J, The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald, (1976), 201

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.