Eton Town Council Offices is a municipal building in the High Street in Eton, a town in Berkshire, in England. The building, which serves as the meeting place of Eton Town Council, is a locally listed building.[1]
| Eton Town Council Offices | |
|---|---|
 The building in 2013 | |
| Location | High Street, Eton |
| Coordinates | 51°29′16″N 0°36′33″W / 51.4877°N 0.6092°W |
| Built | 1904 |
| Architectural style(s) | Queen Anne style |
  Shown in Berkshire | |
History edit
The old council offices edit
Following significant population growth, largely associated the development of Eton College, a local board was appointed in Eton on 6 October 1849.[2] For its first 40 years the Eton Local Board met at various rented rooms in the town. The Baldwin's Bridge Trust, a charity with responsibility for maintaining the adjoining bridge over the stream called Barnes Pool, commissioned a new building at 138 High Street in the 1880s. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style, built in red brick with stone dressings and was completed in 1890. It featured an arched doorway with a hood mould flanked by recessed casement windows with hood moulds. There was an oriel window on the first floor and a mullioned and transomed window on the second floor with a stepped gable above. The building at 138 High Street was designed to serve both as offices for the trust itself and to provide offices and a council chamber for Eton Local Board. The board held its first meeting in the new building on 1 January 1891.[3][4]
The local board was succeeded by Eton Urban District Council in 1894. The urban district council continued to be based at 138 High Street until around 1957, when it moved to 102 High Street. The building at 138 High Street was then converted for commercial use and, as Bridge House, now serves as the premises of a cosmetic surgery practice.[5]
The new council offices edit
The current building was commissioned by the council as the town's fire station.[6][7] It was designed in the Queen Anne style, built in brick with a painted finish at a cost of £5,200 and was completed in 1904.[8][9] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto the High Street. It featured three round headed openings for access by the fire engines on the ground floor, six sash windows on the first floor and three Diocletian windows on the second floor, all surmounted by three gables. A plaque depicting the coat of arms of Eton was fixed to the main frontage.[1] A roll of honour, to commemorate fire service personnel who had served in the First World War, was unveiled in the building in February 1921.[10] The council continued to use horse-drawn fire engines until a motorised fire engine was acquired in 1922.[11]
After the fire service moved to St Leonards Road in Windsor, the building became the headquarters of the urban district council in around 1957. It continued to serve as the local seat of government until the enlarged Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council was formed in 1974.[12] It subsequently became the offices and meeting place of Eton Town Council.[13]
References edit
- ^ a b Eton Conservation Area Appraisal (PDF). Maidenhead: Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. 2009. pp. 99–100. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ "No. 21030". The London Gazette. 19 October 1849. p. 3121.
- ^ "New public building at Eton". Reading Mercury. 18 January 1890. p. 8. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ "Eton Local Board of Health". Windsor and Eton Express. 10 January 1891. p. 4. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
- ^ "Eterno 360". Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "No. 40634". The London Gazette. 18 November 1955. p. 6504.
...Eton Urban District Council, Council Offices, 138, High Street, Eton...
- ^ "No. 41473". The London Gazette. 15 August 1958. p. 5085.
...at the offices of... the Eton U.D.C., 102, High Street, Eton...
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Williamson, Elizabeth; Brandwood, Geoffrey K. (1994). Buckinghamshire (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0300095845.
- ^ Eton urban district council. The Lancet. 19 March 1904. p. 827.
Eton urban district council to the Local Government Board for sanction to borrow £ 5200 to build a fire station
- ^ "Eton Fire Brigade". Roll of Honour. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ The Fire Protection Services. Vol. 69. Municipal Engineering and the Sanitary Record. 1922. p. 464. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
- ^ "Town Council Agenda" (PDF). Eton Town Council. 11 January 1974. Retrieved 1 April 2024.