Did You Know Someone Used To Live Inside Havering Town Hall?
One of the more surprising details in Historic England’s listing is that the original Romford Town Hall included a caretaker’s flat.
For most people, Havering Town Hall is a place of council meetings, offices and civic ceremonies. But when the building was created in the 1930s, it also included a home.
The present Town Hall was designed by Herbert R. Collins and Antoine Englebert O. Geens after they won Romford Urban District Council’s architectural competition in 1935. It opened as Romford Town Hall two years later.
Historic England’s Grade II listing records an unusual feature on the Main Road frontage: part of the setback upper storey was originally a caretaker’s flat.
The accommodation was not simply a tiny room tucked behind the offices. Four of its windows opened onto a balcony with metal railings, making the residential element part of the building’s original architectural design.
Having an on-site caretaker made practical sense for a large civic building of the period. Romford Town Hall contained the council chamber, committee rooms, offices, public areas and extensive corridors, all in an era before modern building-management systems and electronic security.
It is one of several details that are easily missed when looking at the Town Hall from Main Road. The same official listing records original oak panelling, a Bath stone staircase hall, an Austrian oak public gallery in the Council Chamber and even original steps hidden beneath a later floor in the former Rates Office.
The caretaker’s flat also provides a glimpse into the way public buildings were expected to function when Romford Town Hall opened in 1937. The building was not simply a collection of offices. It was a civic complex that needed to be staffed, maintained and looked after day and night.
Today, that former residential space forms part of a Grade II listed building that has continued to evolve around modern council use, but the original flat remains part of the Town Hall’s story.
Source
Historic England: Havering Town Hall, Grade II list entry
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