1919 extension to the old Town Hall, Rugby
Anne Langley
The Benn building, once the Town Hall, now Marks & Spencer, Rugby. A handsome neo-Georgian stone façade above modern shop front
Anne Langley
The old Town Hall stood on the High Street. It was built in 1857, with an extension in 1919. The upper floor became a cinema (Vint’s Palace) around 1913. A bad fire destroyed most of the building in 1921 and it was rebuilt in undistinguished style as Woolworths, which opened in 1923 and closed again in 2009. It is now the 99p Store. As you can see from the photo, the 1919 extension still survives today (until recently Hunt’s bookshop, but now a community café). The Town Hall moved to another handsome building, bequeathed by Mr Benn in 1895 (now Marks & Spencer’s see photo). It moved again to a building in Newbold Road in 1936, and to the current building by Caldecote Park in 1961.
Comments
I’ve walked past (and shopped) for years in the town centre, and never realised they were both former town hall buildings, so many thanks! Do you happen to know what the second town hall was used for initially?
I will try and find out for you – watch this space! Anne
I consulted E.W. Timmins’ ‘Rugby, a Pictorial History’ at the Warwickshire County Record Office and can now give some more details about the Benn Building. Mr George Charles Benn left the Shoulder of Mutton pub in the High Street in his will to create a building to be used by the people of Rugby. After his death the pub was demolished (in 1898) and the Benn Building erected on the site. The Town Hall moved there in 1900 (so the building was not in fact used for any other purpose beforehand).
Strange thing is the extension built in 1919 to what was Woolworths building is always recorded as an extension to the Town Hall yet the new Benn Hall further down the street was built and used as the Town Hall from 1900 19 years before.
It should also be recorded that Rugby’s present Town Hall has a large function hall attached also named in honour of Mr Benn.
I have read that the 1857 building was designed by Coventry architect James Murray who once partnered Pugin. Murray designed numerous such buildings in a variety of styles including Corn Exchanges and Art Schools. One building of note that has survived is the Blue Coat School in Coventry.
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