Trafford Town Hall

Trafford Town Hall

Trafford Town Hall stands on a large site at the junction of Talbot Road and Warwick Road in Stretford, England, directly opposite the Old Trafford Cricket Ground. It was designed by architects Bradshaw Gass & Hope of Bolton on behalf of Stretford Municipal Borough, and built by the main contractor Edwin Marshall & Sons. Work began on 21 August 1931, funded by a government grant of £88,000; the building was officially opened as Stretford Town Hall on the granting of Stretford's charter on 16 September 1933.

The steel-framed building has two stories plus basement and attic floors, with a mansard roof. Set in landscaped grounds with a sunken garden, it is constructed of brick in Flemish bond with gritstone dressings. It originally consisted of a main front with a wing on each side, until a rear extension was added between the wings in 1983, enclosing an inner courtyard.

In 1974, on the formation of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, the new council adopted the town hall as its base, renaming it Trafford Town Hall. It was renovated in the early 1980s, in a schedule of work that included the addition of a 10,000-square-metre (110,000 sq ft) underground nuclear fall-out shelter; the shelter was subsequently used for storage until its closure in 2011. Trafford Town Hall was designated a Grade II listed building in 2007.

In 2011, the 1983 extension was demolished, and the 1933 original building refurbished, with new offices added. The new buildings were opened in 2013.

External reference

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