CHAPTER VIII. The Northern Front
The northern quarter of County Hall (Section D) was not
completed until eleven years after the opening of the
building. Although the Municipal Reformers had postponed the construction of Section D in 1908, work on the
design had not been stopped and in May 1914 the Council
authorized the Establishment Committee to make preliminary arrangements for putting the building in hand.
Drawings and bills of quantities were prepared in readiness for the inviting of tenders before the war brought a
halt to all such work. (fn. 1)
After the war the high cost of building inhibited any
further progress towards the construction of Section D
and the subject was not raised again until 1920, when
changes to the plan were discussed. Over a year later the
Establishment Committee was still putting off a decision
on whether to proceed. (fn. 2) One argument urged for going
ahead as soon as possible was the perennial need for space.
A less obvious reason was that the northern edge of the
foundation raft was not properly sealed. Maintaining a
dry building required continuous pumping, and there
were fears for the structure if the projected extension was
not completed soon. Independently of any decision about
the superstructure of Section D, therefore, the Committee
decided late in 1922 that this raft and the retaining wall
should be finished. The work was carried out between
1923 and 1925 by Holloway Brothers at a tendered price
of £58,126. (fn. 3)
In this period of post-war recession the Municipal
Reformers had maintained their stance as the party of
thrift, but by 1928 the economic situation had improved
and completing County Hall no longer seemed an extravagance. A more urgent and compelling reason for proceeding, however, was the greatly increased volume of work
likely to fall on the Council as the result of Government
legislation, then in preparation, to reorganize the Poor
Law administration in London. Under proposals which
passed into law in 1929, the twenty-five Boards of Guardians, the Metropolitan Asylums Board, the four Boards of
School District Managers, and the Central Unemployed
Body, were all to be abolished and their work transferred to
the LCC. With this in mind the Establishment Committee
strongly recommended that the completion of Section D
'should be effected at the earliest possible date', and in
July 1928 the Council decided to go ahead. (fn. 4) Bills of quantities were being prepared by September 1929, and in
the following May contracts for the superstructure were
signed. (fn. 5) British building materials and British oak for the
Principal Floor panelling were stipulated, and the Council
also wanted the stone to be worked and the joinery prepared 'within the London district (i.e., a radius of 15 miles
from Charing-cross)'. (fn. 6) In spite of severe limitations on all
public spending imposed by the National Government in
the early 1930s, the LCC was allowed to complete the
building.
Development of the Plan and Changes to the
Design
In the years between 1920 and 1929 the design was considerably modified, partly because the Council was constantly trying to fit more accommodation on the site, and
partly to take into account the experience of using and
working in the building.
Knott's original design had projected Section D as a
range of offices, although on the Principal Floor most of
the rooms along the northern front were left unallocated
(folded drawing Aiii, overlay, between pp. 62–3). The
absorption of additional bodies and the growth of the
Council's responsibilities meant that there would have to
be more committee rooms, while the absence of any large
room suitable for meetings or conferences gave rise to a
campaign, initiated in 1920 by the Progressive Member,
Percy Harris, for the reinstatement of the 'Public Hall',
which the Municipal Reformers had shorn from the original competition design in 1908. It was now proposed that
this should be built in the central courtyard of Section D
and made directly accessible from the northern roadway.
The Establishment Committee, dominated by the Municipal Reformers, confirmed the feasibility of this suggestion,
but declined to give the matter further consideration until
a decision had been made to proceed with Section D itself. (fn. 7)
It was, however, revived in 1922 when Riley showed the
Committee a sketch plan with a public hall in the central
courtyard, (fn. 8) but was seemingly laid to rest in 1924 when
the Committee formally instructed the newly constituted
sub-committee for Section D to exclude the public hall
from its deliberations. (fn. 9)
A different tactic was then employed by Knott and
Riley to get the public hall back into the scheme. Thanks
to the efforts of Captain Swinton, the LCC's collection of
Chairmen's portraits was increasing, and indeed proving
an embarrassment to the Architects, who could not find a
suitable space in which to hang it. At the same time the
Architects wanted to alleviate what was generally regarded
as the tiresome and wasteful corridor system round the
perimeter of the building by introducing some kind of
central corridor running north from Block 12. In the
summer of 1924, therefore, Knott and Riley came up with
a scheme in which the public hall was superseded by a
picture gallery at ground-floor level, with room for up to
two hundred portraits, arranged in an unusual manner
around a large open circulation space. (fn. 10) This was the
decisive factor, and although the sub-committee was still
clinging to the idea of omitting the gallery altogether in
1927, it was reinstated in 1928, now even more strongly
justified as an aid to circulation because of the Establishment Committee's decision to pack additional offices
into Section D by putting them on both sides of the
corridor. (fn. 11) This 'double banking', as it was called, gave an
increase of about twenty-five per cent over the singlesided layout used generally in Sections A, B and C. (fn. 12) (fn. a) In
July 1928 the Council formally agreed that the construction of the picture gallery should proceed concurrently with the rest of Section D, though the final
designs had still to be worked out. (fn. 13)
The revisions to Section D were not confined to the
plans; some important and telling changes were also made
to the design of the northern façade. This had always been
regarded as the least important of the four elevations,
fronting only on to a narrow road and in any case obscured
by other buildings to the north. In 1907 the competitors
had not even been required to submit an elevation for this
front, and in Knott's design the only important features
here were the two corner pavilions, matching those on the
south front. By the 1920s, however, there were plans to
clear the area to the north of County Hall as part of the
proposed scheme for a new Charing Cross road bridge. If
carried out this would expose the northern elevation of
County Hall to full view from the proposed new bridge,
and Knott was concerned about the effect of the great
expanse of featureless walling between the two pavilions.
He therefore re-designed this front, moving the pavilions
away from the corners nearer to the centre, and extending
the rustication from the pavilions round to the east and
west fronts. The Council approved the amended elevation
in October 1928. (fn. 14)
During the late summer and autumn of 1928 the socalled 'picture gallery', initially rectangular, evolved into
a large elliptical Conference Hall ringed with spaces for
hanging pictures (fig. 40). It was raised to Principal Floor
level in order to make the space below available for a
Licensing Hall for the Road Fund and Motor Car Driving
Licences Section of the Public Control Department. The
urgent need for additional space for Licensing had been
discussed by the Section D sub-committee in 1927, when
it was decided to transfer the department to the northern
end of the building, (fn. b) but the earliest reference to the
Licensing Hall being beneath the Conference Hall is in
September 1928. The cost of this change was not an
issue because the building work would be paid for by the
Ministry of Transport.
The evolution of the Conference Hall shows the close
working relationship and more relaxed collaboration
which had developed between Knott and Riley since the
war. Towards the end of November 1928 Knott sent a
revised plan for the hall to Riley, who retained responsibility for 'matters relating to internal economy'. This plan,
which has been lost, was described as circular, consisting
of a Conference Hall with radiating bays around its
edge for the Picture Gallery. The round form was an innovation, Knott's previous rectangular plan being now
dismissed by him as 'boring'. (fn. 15) Riley welcomed the change
but saw that where the circular plan met the rectangular
blocks, there was an awkward junction, and he suggested
a 'slightly elliptical' plan, reducing the north-south axis
and giving more generous access to the hall. He sketched
his suggestions and sent them to Knott, who adopted them
without hesitation. (fn. 16)
Knott evidently intended to have a skylight in the centre
of the hall roof, and to light the gallery bays, which were
to match the hall in height, by means of fully glazed roofs.
Riley suggested changes here as well: why not, he asked,
lower the gallery roofs and use clerestory lighting instead
to light the hall, thus giving the galleries better proportion
and more effective lighting. (fn. 17) Again Knott saw the sense
of these proposals and agreed immediately. (fn. 18) It was this
alteration which facilitated the later development by which
the Education Library was placed above the Conference
Hall (fig. 42).
Change of Architects
In the early days of 1929 Knott was busy working on the
revisions. But on 25 January 1929, three days after writing
his last letter to Riley, he unexpectedly died after a short
illness. (fn. 19) He was only 50 years old. In 1931 the Council
ordered a bronze plaque to be set up in his memory in the
Members' Courtyard, on the east side of the Members'
Entrance. Designed by Gilbert Bayes and made by Morris
Singer, it has a profile of Knott in low relief and was
unveiled in June 1932 (Plate 17c). (fn. 20)
Fig. 40. Northern quarter of County Hall (Section D). Section through the building looking east, showing, from left to right, Block
15 (the northern front), with Entrance Hall and offices above, the 'Drum', containing the Education Library, Conference Hall and
the Vehicle Licensing Section, and Block 12 (the northern end of the 1922 building). The Bridge Passage at Principal-Floor level was
built at the same time to connect with the former Main Committee Room (Room 129)
E. Stone Collins's partnership with Knott (see page 38)
provided continuity while the Council considered
what to do. As Knott's contract with the LCC had been
a purely personal one, Collins had no automatic right of
succession. In the event, however, the Council chose to
employ him, but decided that the time had come when
Riley's services could be dispensed with, partly because
his continued presence was seen as an arrangement which
involved 'considerable administrative difficulty and is at
times the cause of some embarrassment'. As Architect to
the Council he had been succeeded ten years earlier by
George Topham Forrest, with whom his relations were
strained. It is reasonable to assume that Topham Forrest
felt uncomfortable with the older man prowling the corridors and peering over his shoulder. The Council provided a substantial douceur for Riley, who retired on 11
June 1929, the day that Collins's appointment as Knott's
successor officially began. (fn. 21)
The Re-siting of the Education Library
The final major change to the planning of Section D was
made in the summer of 1929, following Knott's death. It
came quite unexpectedly, and was quickly agreed upon
and incorporated into the design and bills of quantities.
This was the Education Library, one of the more unusual
pieces of design in the whole complex of County Hall.
In 1889 the School Board for London had formed a
small circulating library for the use of teachers in infants'
schools. Known as the Pedagogical Lending Library, it
was originally accommodated in a committee room of the
London School Board Offices on the Embankment. As
the library grew it developed into a lending library for
teachers, as well as a 'circulating library scheme supplying
books to secondary schools and literary institutes for the
use of pupils taking advanced courses, etc'. (fn. 22)
In 1922 the library moved to County Hall, where it had
been allocated space on the ground floor of Block 12
(Plate 35b). Under the management of G. H. Gater, the
Council's Education Officer from 1924 to 1933, the borrowing system was re-organized and the circulation rocketed. By 1926 the premises in Block 12 were no longer
adequate and books were spilling into the corridors
outside. In 1929 Gater appealed to the Establishment
Committee for a purpose-built library in Section D, to
hold between 70 and 80,000 volumes. (fn. 23)
Gater's appeal came long after the other departments
had claimed their share and there seemed to be nothing
left to give away. Yet it appears that he went to the
Committee with a plan already formed to place his library
on top of the Conference Hall. The records which trace
the development of this scheme are so slight as to make
any definite conclusions about its origins impossible. The
idea could have originated with Collins, or even with
Knott. It is strongly reminiscent of the latter's abortive
scheme of January 1909 in which he proposed placing the
Members' Library above an oval Council Chamber (see
page 44).
The Establishment Committee, meeting in July 1929,
thought the idea excellent, and a sum of £25,000 was
allocated. Collins confirmed that it was technically
feasible, and the job was immediately put in hand by the
architect and the structural engineers, Whitaker, Hall &
Owen. (fn. 24)
Construction
In 1928 Knott had proposed a steel-frame structure clad
in stone as being a quicker and lighter building method
than the load-bearing brickwork used for the first three
sections, and although Riley thought this might lead to
cracks appearing where the two constructions met, it was
the method adopted. When the construction of the earlier
sections was being discussed Riley had objected to steel
framing, and indeed to innovative construction techniques
generally, partly on the pretext that the Model Bye-laws
were under review, but by 1928 he could hardly stand in
the way of what had by then become standard methods. (fn. 25)
Construction work began in the early part of May 1930,
delayed somewhat by the late inclusion into the plans of
the Education Library, and went ahead regularly, if a little
slowly. The main contractors were Gee, Walker & Slater,
while the steel frame, designed by Whitaker, Hall & Owen,
was built by A. D. Dawnay. (fn. 26) (fn. c) The total cost of the building was approximately £1 million.
The riverside block was ready for occupation in the
middle of February 1932, the northern block late in the
same year, and the whole section was opened on 27 January
1933. The general economic gloom meant that a lavish
formal opening was out of the question and the occasion
was marked by an afternoon party given by the Chairman
of the Council with an 'appropriate ceremony' in the
new Conference Hall. (fn. 27) Later, in March, the Chairman
entertained the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, to
luncheon in the Conference Hall, and the Chairman of
the Establishment Committee presided over a celebratory
dinner. (fn. 28) A bronze plaque commemorating the completion
of Section D was set up in the new bridge passage.
The new section contained some 300 rooms, bringing
the total number in the whole building to about 1,200
(including store rooms). There was now accommodation
in County Hall for approximately 3,500 staff, enabling
the Council to dispose of a number of scattered offices.
However, the transfer of the work of the Poor Law authorities meant that it had to retain the old Spring Gardens
building, which was occupied by the Valuation, Estates
and Housing Departments. (fn. 29) The Fire Brigade and Tramways departments were also housed elsewhere. Thus, even
before Section D was complete, there were plans to
develop the land across Belvedere Road, and centralize
the LCC offices once and for all.
Architectural Description
The North Façade
Fig. 41. Central section of the north façade of County Hall. The shields in the frieze show, from left to right, the arms of Hampstead,
Hackney, Lambeth, Fulham and Finsbury
The main changes to the design of the north elevation and
the reasons for them have already been briefly described
on page 93. This front (Plate 18a, fig. 41) is nearly half as
long again as the Westminster Bridge Road front, but its
pavilions are almost exactly the same distance apart as
their southern counterparts. All of the extra width is taken
up in the rusticated walls which run to the corners of the
building east and west of the northern pavilions. Because
the northern roadway is at basement level, the basement
storey here is treated as part of the façade, making it the
tallest of the four façades at County Hall, and the resulting
proportions are much more harmonious than those of the
Westminster Bridge Road front.
The lowest storey falls within the 'plinth level' of the
whole building and is faced with grey granite which is
extended up to first-floor level within the pavilions. This
is the only front where the granite gains an architectural
presence beyond its role as a plinth designed to deal with
the awkwardness of a sloping site. The nature of the stone
has influenced the detail of the entrances at the base
of the pavilions. Two square-headed arches, for vehicle
access, are each flanked by two lower tunnel-like entrances
for pedestrians in a pleasing composition, combining good
proportion with strong modelling (Plate 18b). Less successful is the treatment of the three central entrances
leading to the Conference Hall and Public Control rooms,
whose presence is marked by voussoirs (fig. 41). Above
the plinth the façade rises in Portland stone, detailed in a
very similar way to the earlier work. At cornice level a
frieze of coats of arms completes the list of London boroughs represented in this way at County Hall (Plate 18c).
This frieze and the other architectural sculpture on
Section D were carved by C. H. Mabey. (fn. d)
The roof above the north façade has the usual two rows
of dormers but departs from the arrangement on the other
fronts in having one window above another on both levels.
Elsewhere (except in the Members' Courtyard) the upper
row has only half the number of dormers. Great stone
chimney stacks rise through the roof, matching those of
the earlier building, but only for reasons of symmetry,
since in Section D only rooms on the Principal Floor have
fireplaces.
In the absence of Ernest Cole, the sculptural groups
for the four pavilions on Section D were carved by Alfred
Hardiman (see page 65). Intended to be representative of
the departments that were to occupy the new building,
they take the form of four heroic nude or semi-nude
figures – two male and two female – three of whom are
supporting children (Plate 31c, d). The iconography may
be less obscure than Cole's, but the themes of the groups
are not self-evident. That on the river front is 'Open
Spaces', and the two on the north front are 'Education'
(west pavilion) and 'Healing' (east pavilion). It is not
known what the seated male on the Belvedere Road front
represents. (fn. e) (fn. 31)
'Open Spaces' was the cause of some embarrassment to
the Chief Officer of Public Assistance, who occupied the
second-floor room immediately behind it. In June 1933
he complained to the Establishment Committee of the
effect produced by the presence outside his window of the
seven-foot high 'piece of statuary comprising two figures
in the nude – an infant supported by an adult male, both
facing the river'. Not only did it interfere with his view,
it disturbed his visitors:
notwithstanding the artistic merit of the statuary in the aspect
for which it was worked, the appearance of this arresting and,
from the reverse, meaningless figure in its full height in such
proximity and with the consequential exaggeration of outline –
particularly, for example, of the glutaeus maximus – provokes
comment and is likely to continue to do so, with such frequency
as to prove tedious to myself and to destroy in large measure
the amenities of my room.
He wanted eight of the panes of clear glass replaced
by stained-glass panels designed 'to portray in symbolic
manner that part of the Council's care of the poor and
needy' which came within the ambit of his department. (fn. 32)
A list of suitable subjects was drawn up, and it was
proposed to have the work designed and made by students
at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, but the scheme
was never carried out. (fn. f) Instead, panes of frosted glass were
installed, which have since been removed.
The Plan
Fig. 42. Isometric projection, from
the south-west, of the 'Drum' in
the courtyard of Section D,
containing the Vehicle Licensing
Department (basement),
Conference Hall and Education
Library
Externally, there was little change to the pre-war design,
with the exception of the additional public vehicular
access, and the alteration to the corner pavilions on the
north front. Internally, however, the changes were more
substantial, although the organizational principle of the
building remained the same. The Principal Floor was for
the use of Members and departmental chiefs, the floors
above for general offices, the ground floor was open to the
public (being mainly taken up by the counters of the
Public Control Department), while the basement and subbasement were for storage and maintenance. However, a
very much larger part of the Principal Floor was devoted
to committee rooms than in Knott's earlier scheme (folded
drawing Aiii). In addition, the 'drum' containing the
Conference Hall, Education Library and Vehicle Licensing Hall made significant changes to the workings of the
plan throughout the Principal Floor. A bridge passage, lit
by small round skylights, was built from the centre of the
Main Committee Room, passing through Block 12 – the
northernmost block of the 1922 building – and leading
into the new Conference Hall (Plate 42d). Thus circulation
was improved, but at the cost of making room 129 – the
Main Committee Room – part of a through route. For
this reason room 129 ceased to function as a committee
room and was reserved for the use of Members and their
visitors. (fn. 34) Together with adjoining rooms 128 and 130, it
became known as the Ceremonial Suite. The Conference
Hall itself became part of the circulation space when not
in use for meetings or cinema performances – hence its
role also as a portrait gallery.
The other major change to the plan was the addition of
offices on the courtyard side of the corridors. There was
insufficient room to carry this around the existing Block
12, but along the north, east and west sides of the courtyard, offices are distributed in a way which presages the
post-war 'infill' in the Members' Courtyard and H courtyard.
The staircases, too, are treated more freely, opening up
a corner space of light and movement (Plate 32c) to contrast with the long and rather boring corridor plan which
the original scheme had bound the later phase to follow.
Fire doors added in the 1960s to meet new regulations
have to a large extent destroyed this sense of flowing space.
Fig. 43. Fireplace designs by E. Stone Collins for Committee Rooms in Section D, showing (above) the earlier designs and choice of
marbles, and (below) the revised designs using mainly English materials
a For room 142, where Kilkenny and Purbeck replaced Breche Violette and Brun Fleuri
b For rooms 145 and 152, where Ashburton, Birdseye, Cumberland, Leopard (from South Africa) and Hopton Wood replaced Black
and Gold, Tinos Green and Black Belgian
c For room 158, where Purbeck and Hopton Wood replaced Sienna, Blue and Black Belgian, and White Statuary
d For room 164, where Derbyshire Fossil, Hopton Wood and Purbeck replaced Greek Cippolino, Tinos Green, and Blue Belgian
Simple but significant architectural advantages were
gained internally from the decision to move the northern
pavilions inwards. Instead of two rather small rooms at
the corners, each with a grand window but awkward in
plan and proportion, as occurs in the Westminster Bridge
Road pavilions, there were now four 'pavilion rooms',
each properly planned and proportioned. While the
arrangement is clearly an improvisation within the general
lines of Knott's earlier plans for Section D, the ensemble
has been made to work because the corner staircases (D
and E) have been re-designed. On the Principal Floor
rooms 143 and 153 interrupt the corridors running north
and west into the corners, which are diverted into the
staircase landings. By thus annexing part of the corridors
Knott has increased the width of the two corner rooms,
making them wider than any other room in the building,
apart from the Main Committee Room. Indeed these two
rooms are among the finest in County Hall, and reflect
the freedom in planning created by the new arrangement
(Plates 33c, 34a, folded drawing Aiii).
The Principal Floor
Most of the detailed design work for the interior decoration of Section D was undertaken by Collins, after
Knott's death. On the Principal Floor there is no radical
change of style, but Collins's designs have a greater suavity
and a slightly more modern feeling. This is particularly
apparent in his Art Deco chimneypieces, which are made
from English 'marbles' – Hopton Wood, Derbyshire fossil,
Purbeck, Sussex, and others – and are subdued in tone
with browns, greys and dark greens predominating (fig.
43). The use of native marbles was presumably a consequence of the Council's insistence on British materials;
Collins had originally designed the chimneypieces for
imported marbles in a brighter range of colours. (fn. 35) (fn. g) The
main rooms on this floor have enriched plaster ceilings
and full-height oak panelling. A number of rooms have
carved decoration by Alfred H. Wilkinson. The oak panelling and false plaster vaulting in the corridors are, of
course, copied after Knott's original designs.
On the Belvedere Road front are two committee rooms
(155 and 158) and one room for committee chairmen (164).
Each room has an individually designed chimneypiece,
that in 164 having a particularly 'moderne' profile. Latterly these rooms were used for offices and most of their
original light-fittings have been removed.
The large square corner room behind the Belvedere
Road pavilion (153) was designed to function as a luncheon
room as well as a committee room (Plate 34a), (fn. 37) and is
equipped with a servery in room 154. In the west wall of
153 are three sets of double doors, two of which communicate with room 152. This allows the two rooms to be
used en suite during social or ceremonial occasions. Above
the doors are carved wooden panels incorporating in one
case the arms of the Borough of Lambeth, in another those
of the LCC, and, in the centre, a clock (Plate 29b). These
panels, together with the frieze and the architraves around
the doors, were designed and carved by Wilkinson. (fn. 38) The
ceiling is decorated with a large circular plaster wreath
enriched with anthemions and floral motifs. All the original wall and ceiling lights have been preserved.
The range of committee rooms along the north front
forms a handed sequence comparable to that along the
central portion of the Belvedere Road front, although it
'breaks down' in the two pavilion rooms (152 and 145).
The east end of 152 is partly screened off by two short
projections with detached piers, creating a vestibule
between the main part of the room and the doors into 153
(Plate 34b). In 145 the equivalent space serves as a public
gallery to the large committee room in the north-west
corner. Apart from this, and some minor variants in the
detailing of the woodwork, the two rooms are handed and
have identical chimneypieces and decorative plasterwork.
The original light fittings in 145 have been replaced.
Rooms 151 and 146 are the smallest of the committee
rooms along this front: both have typical Collins fireplaces
and retain their original light fittings. The larger rooms
150 and 147 are self-contained, having no direct access to
adjoining rooms, but each has two sets of double doors,
opening on to the corridor, dressed internally with broken
segmental pediments. They do not have fireplaces. By
1986 room 150 had been partitioned to make two rooms.
In the centre of the north front the corridor widens out
to form the Crush Hall, the transition being marked by
shallow arches, marble columns and a tessellated marble
floor (Plate 33a). On the south side of this space doors
open into the Conference Hall and on the north side a
ceremonial staircase leads down to the main north
entrance, which is protected by a bronze internal porch
(Plate 32a). As this entrance is at basement level the
staircase has to rise through two substantial storeys. Built
of stone, it has a handsome bronze balustrade (Plate 32a, b)
which is returned across the edge of the landing. The
Crush Hall itself was a rather modest arrangement with
similar problems to the Belvedere Road entrance, for it
served as a public entrance on special occasions and was
also part of the Principal Floor corridor on a daily basis.
Fig. 44. Room 142. Working drawing for panelling and chimneypiece, 1931
The large north-west corner room (143) behind the
pavilion on the river front was designed to replace room
129 as the main committee room (Plate 33c). The press
and public gallery – for which room 145 was curtailed –
occupies a niche on the east side, angled in towards the
centre of the room, and reminiscent of a box in a theatre.
The gallery has a separate entrance from the corridor and
its own independent room number (144). It is furnished
with tiers of benches fitted with folding flaps which can
be raised for note-taking. In the committee room itself all
that remains of Collins's original furniture is the Chairman's bench, the rest having been replaced in the 1960s.
The original elegant ceiling lights survive, but the wall
lights do not. Double doors in the south wall of the
committee room connect with a finely panelled and finished retiring-room (142) whither Members adjourned for
private discussions (Plate 34d, fig. 44).
A similar sequence was created along the river front,
with a public gallery, committee room and retiring-room
occupying rooms 141, 140 and 134 respectively. The retiring-room was formed in part out of a room in the 1922
building which had been used for a servery. Later, when
the committee room (Plate 34c) was turned over to office
use, the public gallery in room 141 was partitioned off and
the seating removed. The former committee room, which
retains its original light fittings, has a coffered ceiling. The
two double doors opening into the corridor have broken
segmental pediments embellished with palmettes. In the
south wall two round-headed doorways lead into the
former retiring-room. This room has a small square chimneypiece, with a carved overmantel panel and integral
clock, and the ceiling is enriched with a Greek-key motif.
The Drum
This elliptical tower, containing the former Licensing
Hall, Conference Hall and Education Library (Plate 38d,
figs 40, 42), was devised as a way of accommodating these
additional and diverse elements into the scheme without
disrupting the overall plan. It is a clever and on the whole
a satisfactory solution to the problem. The external walls
are faced with white glazed bricks, like most of the courtyards at County Hall, and this gives the whole structure
a style reminiscent of Constructivist architecture. The
discrepancy between the Conference Hall interior and this
exterior, however, is every bit as extreme as that between
the Council Chamber and its outward form (Plates 21,
33b, 38c, d).
At the heart of this block is the Conference Hall (Plate
33b), accessible from the south by way of the bridge
passage and the former Main Committee Room, and from
the north through the Crush Hall. The Conference Hall
is elliptical in plan, rising through two storeys, with a
shallow domed roof. At one end is a removable stage
and dressing-room accommodation and at the other a
projection room at gallery level above a store. A hoist
hatch is concealed in the centre of the floor, giving access
to a chair store at ground-floor level below. The twelve
columns ringing the main space are made of concrete on
steel stanchions, and finished in lapis-lazuli blue scagliola,
with black bases and gilded capitals (fig. 45), while the
entablature they support was originally a buff colour
picked out in light purple. Between them are set singlestorey top-lit alcoves for hanging the collection of Chairmen's portraits. Neatly concealed in the partitions
between these alcoves are the structural columns which
support the Education Library. Just inside the north
entrance is a memorial to Emma Cons, the first woman
Alderman on the LCC (Plate 46a). Presented to the
Council in 1930, this is a plaster cast of a bronze portrait
in bas-relief of Miss Cons by Sir William Goscombe
John. (fn. 39)
Fig. 45. Conference Hall. Working drawing for the plaster
capitals to the columns, 1932
The Conference Hall is not a very comfortable or gracious public space and it seems to have suffered some
acoustic problems, nothing apparently having been learnt
from similar difficulties experienced in the Council
Chamber.
At basement level, and directly accessible from the
northern roadway, was the Licensing Hall, a practical and
stylish piece of 1930s glazed tilework in white, grey, blue
and black, with hardwood fittings, to which the faceted
oval form gave added interest (Plate 36d). This was
destroyed when the area was refurbished in 1963, and,
after vehicle licensing was centralized in Swansea in the
early 1970s, the space was remodelled by the GLC as a
staff training centre. (fn. 40)
Above the Conference Hall is the galleried Education
Library, with space for 100,000 books. Like so much of
the Education Department's accommodation, the library
was up-to-date in design and concept (Plate 35a). On plan
it is a twelve-sided ellipse linked by bridges to the cross
corridors at fourth-floor level (fig. 46). Twenty rows of
bookstacks are arranged at right angles to the external
walls on three levels: the entrance level plus two levels of
galleries. Stairs on the long axis of the ellipse – on the east
and west sides – lead to these galleries. Each quadrant of
the plan is served by a book lift within the bookstacks. In
the roof there is a shallow dished skylight of green and
clear glass (fig. 47). A large glass chandelier, which could
be lowered on a winch, was originally suspended from the
centre of this skylight, but after being broken in a fall,
was not reinstated. The gallery fronts were originally
green, with steel and bronze railings, and the steel bookstacks were enamelled in dark blue with flecks of black.
This Art Deco colouring scheme has since been replaced
by white paint throughout.
Fig. 46. Education Library. Plan at entrance (fourth-floor) level.
L book lifts
Fig. 47. Education Library. Plan of the glazing in the skylight