Brixham Town Hall Market Hall

Details

BRIXHAM

SX9256SW NEW ROAD, Lower Brixham 1946-1/10/190 (North side) Brixham Town Hall and Market Hall

GV II

Town hall and market hall. 1886. By GS Bridgman of Torquay. Squared and coursed, rough-faced Devonian limestone with yellow-brick and Bath stone dressings. Slated roofs, that to left hipped. Yellow-brick chimney on rear wall. Plan: main body of building consists of the market hall (now sub-divided) with a theatre above it. This lies gable-end on to New Road. To its left is an office-range with main entrance and staircase. The Market Street front to right has a short projection at each end. That at the front is rounded; that at the rear, which is part of a cross-range running behind the Market Hall/Theatre, is square. At right-angles to the cross-range, and built in the same style, are the public toilets. Italianate Classical style. Exterior: 2 storeys (toilets 1 storey). 7 windows wide. Market Hall is 3 windows wide. Round-arched doorway in centre of ground storey with moulded archivolt springing from moulded imposts, the archivolt with incised inscription BRIXHAM MARKET; fanlight with glazing bars forming a circle and 2 semi-circles. Above it a tall round-arched window with moulded and fluted imposts and keystone; stone-mullioned, with 3 round-headed lights below and a large round light with radial bars above. On the base of the window is incised MARKET HALL. Above the window is a moulded cornice surmounted by a gable feature containing a blind round opening and flanked by pedestals carrying battlement-like blocks. At the apex of the gable is a tall, moulded metal finial. The outer windows are round-arched, those in the ground storey with moulded archivolts and imposts, those above with hoodmoulds and fluted keystones; the ground-storey windows have in the upper part 2 round-headed lights with a round light at the top. Above the second-storey windows, which are considerably shorter than that in the centre, are entablatures with tall brick parapets. Main entrance is round-arched with 4 attached shafts at each side. Flanking it are pilasters supporting paired, fluted brackets, which in turn carry an entablature and parapet. The ground-storey windows to left of it are round-arched with moulded imposts and archivolts; sashes, the upper ones 2-paned. Upper-storey windows have 2-paned wood casements and transom-lights; flat chamfered lintels supported by moulded capitals, the brick jambs forming notional pilasters. Deep, flat eaves-cornice. Ornate iron finial. The rounded projection to right of building is similar in character. The Market Street front is plainer, with segmental or round brick arches to windows and doorways. Boxed eaves-cornice. Both projections have ornate iron finials. Toilets are similar. INTERIOR: main staircase is of wood in early Georgian style; narrow open well with turned balusters having square necking-pieces. Theatre has arch-braced roof-trusses. The building occupies the site of the former Naval Reservoir, from which pipes led down to King's Quay in the harbour; it was used for watering naval ships. The 1886 building was used for the Pannier Market; it appears to have replaced a building, which still survives on the Strand (Tourist Information Centre and fishmonger's shop (qv)). The Fish Market was quite separate and still stands (rebuilt in late C20) on The Quay. (Pike JR: Brixham, Torbay: a bibliographical guide: Torbay: 1974-: 4; King J: Plan of the Watering Place at Brixham: 1781-; 25in OS Map of Brixham (1st ed): 1864-: SHEET 128:2).

Listing NGR: SX9233256041

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

383695

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
King, J, Watering Place at Brixham, (1781)
Pike, J R, Brixham Torbay A Bibliographical Guide, (1974), 4

End of official list entry

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