Kettering Municipal Offices
| Kettering Municipal Offices | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kettering Municipal Offices | |
| Location | Bowling Green Road, Kettering |
| Coordinates | 52°23′45″N 0°43′35″W / 52.3959°N 0.7263°W |
| Built | 1913 |
| Architect | John Alfred Gotch |
| Architectural style(s) | Neo-Georgian style |
.svg)  Shown in Northamptonshire | |
The Municipal Offices is a municipal building in Bowling Green Road in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. The building accommodates the offices and meeting place of Kettering Town Council.
History
Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Kettering as a market town, the area became an urban district in 1894.[1] The new council initially established its offices at the Corn Exchange,[2] but subsequently moved to offices in the High Street[3] and, after the area was advanced to the status of municipal borough in 1938,[4] to new offices in London Road.[5] The council rapidly outgrew the offices in London Road and, after Kettering Grammar School relocated from its premises at Bowling Green Road to new premises at Windmill Avenue in 1965,[6] the council took the opportunity to acquire the vacant building in Bowling Green Road. The building had been designed by John Alfred Gotch in the Neo-Georgian style, built in red brick with stone facings and had been completed in 1913.[7]
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with thirteen bays facing onto Bowling Green Road with the end bays projected forward as pavilions; the central section of five bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a short flight of steps leading up to a doorway; there was a casement window on the first floor. The other bays in the central section featured tall casement windows flanked by Doric order columns, spanning the ground and first floors, and which supported a stone frieze, a brick entablature and a cornice. The second floor was fenestrated by a row of eight windows and was surmounted by a modillioned frieze, a brick entablature and a modillioned cornice and, at roof level, a lantern was installed. The end bays were blind but featured stone arches at second floor level. A council chamber was fitted inside the building and a porch was added when the former school was converted for municipal use in 1965.[7]
A plaque was placed on the eastern end bay to reflect the twinning agreement that the council had entered into with Lahnstein in Germany a few years previously.[8] The municipal building continued to serve as local seat of government after the enlarged Kettering Borough Council was formed in 1974[9] and another plaque was added to the eastern end bay after Kettering became a sister city to Kettering, Ohio in the United States in 1978.[10] The building was reduced to the status of an area office for North Northamptonshire Council after the new council was formed with its headquarters in Corby in 2021.[11] The building subsequently became the offices and meeting place of the newly-formed Kettering Town Council.[12]
References
- ^ Page, William (1930). "'Parishes: Kettering', in A History of the County of Northampton". London: British History Online. pp. 218–226. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ Kettering. 16 February 1907. p. 201. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
{{cite book}}:|newspaper=ignored (help) - ^ "No. 32958". The London Gazette. 22 July 1924. p. 5560.
- ^ "Kettering UD/MB". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ "No. 39414". The London Gazette. 21 December 1951. p. 6659.
- ^ "History". Kettering Old Grammar School Foundation. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ a b Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (2002). Northamptonshire (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 273. ISBN 978-0300096323.
- ^ "Lahnstein - Twin Town". North Northamptonshire Council. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
- ^ "Kettering wins top award for its sister cities program". WHIO. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ "Corby Cube set to become North Northamptonshire Council headquarters". Northamptonshire Telegraph. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ "Full Council Meeting" (PDF). Kettering Town Council. 16 February 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.