Ellesmere Port Council Offices is a municipal building in Civic Way in Ellesmere Port, a town in Cheshire, in England. The building served as the headquarters of Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council but is now disused.
| Ellesmere Port Council Offices | |
|---|---|
 The building in 2005 | |
| Location | Civic Way, Ellesmere Port |
| Coordinates | 53°16′36″N 2°54′15″W / 53.2768°N 2.9041°W |
| Built | 1969 |
| Architectural style(s) | Modern style |
  Shown in Cheshire | |
History edit
Following significant population growth, largely associated with the shipping industry, a local board of health was established in the area in 1872.[1] The local board of health was replaced by Wirral Rural District Council in 1894 and by Ellesmere Port and Whitby Urban District Council in 1902.[2] The new council initially established offices at Bank Buildings in Station Street,[3] before opening dedicated offices in 1908.[4][5] The council then moved to the former home of the Grace family, Whitby Hall, in 1931.[6]
After the Second World War, a memorial, in the form of an irregular monolith of stone bearing by a plaque commemorating the lives of veterans involved in the Normandy landings, was unveiled to the west of the council offices at the corner of Stanney Lane and Whitby Road.[7][8]
The area became a municipal borough in 1955 and, in that context, the council found that the Whitby Hall was inadequate and decided to commission a new civic complex. The site they selected was open land on the north side of Stanney Lane.[9] The council offices were the final phase of the development of the new civic complex in the new town centre, following the opening of the Civic Hall in 1955, and a library in 1962.[10] The new five-storey building was designed under the supervision of the borough engineer and surveyor, Howard Wilson,[11] in the modern style, built in concrete, glass and brick and was completed in 1969. The main frontage was faced with alternating bands of concrete cladding and steel-framed glass and there were brick-clad staircase towers at centre and ends of the structure.[12]
The building continued to serve as the local administrative headquarters after the area became part of the new Borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston in 1974.[13] However, council meetings continued to be held at Whitby Hall until the early 1990s, when the council offices were extended. The additions including a new hexagonal shaped structure, containing a purpose-built council chamber, and an underground bunker, intended for use in the event of a nuclear attack.[14] In 2009, the borough became part of Cheshire West and Chester.[15]
In 2005, a new civic square was established to the east of the council offices. The centrepiece of the civic square was a new war memorial, in the form of a celtic cross on a cruciform base commemorating the lives of all local service personnel who had died in military conflict, which was unveiled on 11 November 2005.[16][17]
The new council continued to use the building to deliver services until May 2022, when it moved to a new building in the town, The Portal.[18] Demolition of the building was approved, but was delayed until 2024 due to the need to relocate mobile phone masts from the roof.[19][20][21]
References edit
- ^ "Wirral Rural District Council records". Cheshire Archives. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "Ellesmere Port and Whitby UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ Stone, materials and stores. The Builder. 23 February 1907. p. 241.
- ^ Aspinall, P. J.; Hudson, Daphne M. (1982). Ellesmere Port The Making of an Industrial Borough. Borough Council of Port Ellesmere and Neston, South Wirral. p. 45. ISBN 978-0950766607.
In 1908, the year in which new council offices were built, Ellesmere Port…
- ^ Tenders open. Vol. 38. Roads and Road Construction. 1960. p. 44.
Contract documents from the borough engineer and surveyor, Queen Street, Ellesmere Port
- ^ "Ellesmere Port: Whitby Hall Municipal Offices". Cheshire Image Bank. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "Ellesmere Port (Normandy Veterans Stone of Remembrance)". War Memorials Online. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "Normandy Veterans". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1955. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "Phase two finished". Municipal Journal. 1962.
- ^ Appointments. Vol. 80. Municipal Journal. 1972. p. 106.
Ellesmere Port BC , has been appointed borough engineer and surveyor in succession to Howard Wilson
- ^ "Borough of Ellesmere Port". Cheshire Observer. Chester. 12 December 1969. p. 11. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
...at the new Municipal Offices, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port...
- ^ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
- ^ "So that's what it looks like inside..." Ellesmere Port Pioneer. 29 January 1992. p. 18. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ "The Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 - Article 4". www.legislation.gov.uk. Legislation.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 3 January 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ "Ellesmere Port War Memorial Project". Royden History. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "War Memorial, Ellesmere Port Civic Centre". Carl's Cam. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ Porter, Gary (5 April 2022). "New Cheshire West and Chester Council HQ in Ellesmere Port to open in May". Cheshire Live. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ Porter, Gary (23 August 2023). "Fresh plans to knock down Ellesmere Port council offices with underground bunker". Cheshire Live. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ Dowling, Mark (16 February 2024). "Bid to level Ellesmere Port ex-CWaC offices and bunker approved". Chester Standard. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ Porter, Gary (18 February 2024). "Go-ahead for new plans to bulldoze Ellesmere Port council offices with underground bunker". Cheshire Live. Retrieved 23 March 2024.