16 September 1937: The Day Romford Opened Its New Town Hall And Became A Borough

7th October 20261st October 2026 The Havering Daily 0 Comments Antoine Englebert, Architects' Journal, Became, Borough Romford's, Britain, Collins, Councillor Charles Allen, Day Romford Opened, Geens, George Broadbridge, Grade II, Havering, Havering Town Hall, Herbert, Historic England, Hornchurch Urban District, International Moderne, London, London Borough, Lord Mayor, Main Road, Municipal Borough, Romford, Romford Town hall, Romford's, Town Hall, Victorian min read

Romford’s new civic headquarters opened on the same day the town was formally incorporated as a municipal borough.

Thursday 16 September 1937 was one of the most important civic days in Romford’s modern history.

After years of planning, the new municipal offices on Main Road were officially opened as Romford Town Hall by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir George Broadbridge.

The building had been designed by Herbert R. Collins and Antoine Englebert O. Geens following an architectural competition launched in 1935. Construction followed, with the foundation stone laid in November 1936.

But the opening ceremony was only half of the story.

Romford was also receiving its charter of incorporation that day, changing its status from an urban district into the Municipal Borough of Romford. Sir George Broadbridge presented the charter to the charter mayor, Councillor Charles Allen.

The timing gave the new building extra significance. It was not simply a replacement set of council offices. Romford’s new Town Hall became the physical symbol of the town’s new municipal status.

The choice of architecture also reflected that sense of a town looking forward. Rather than imitate the elaborate Victorian town halls found elsewhere in Britain, Collins and Geens produced a restrained International Moderne building, with a steel frame, silver-grey brick, stone detailing and a prominent entrance hall facing Main Road.

The original plan had been even more ambitious, with a 1,512-seat assembly hall and refreshment room forming part of the proposed civic complex. Those elements were never built, leaving the municipal offices as the main surviving part of the 1935 vision.

Romford Town Hall remained the borough’s headquarters until local government was reorganised in 1965. When the new London Borough of Havering combined the former Romford borough and Hornchurch Urban District, the Main Road building was retained as the new authority’s headquarters and renamed Havering Town Hall.

The building is now Grade II listed, but its origins are still closely tied to that single September day in 1937 when Romford both opened its new Town Hall and entered a new chapter of local government.