Salford Civic Centre
Encyclopedia
Salford
Salford lies at the heart of the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. Salford is sited in a meander of the River Irwell, which forms its boundary with the city of Manchester to the east. Together with its neighbouring towns to the west, Salford...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is the location for the Council Chamber and committee rooms, as well as being the administrative headquarters, for Salford City Council.
Design and construction
The new town hall for Swinton & Pendlebury was designed by architects Percy ThomasPercy Thomas
Sir Percy Edward Thomas OBE , was an award-winning British architect based in Wales for the majority of his life. He was twice RIBA president ....
and Ernest Prestwich, after they had won a national design competition. The foundation stone was laid on 17 October 1936 and the town hall was opened in 1938. The total coct including landscaping was £80,000. Percy Thomas was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
Gold Medal in 1939.
The building is described as neo-classical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
in style. Its most striking feature is the clock tower, 38m in height, with clock faces on each side, 2.7m in diameter.
To cope with increased administration requirements a new computer centre was built next to the Town Hall. It was completed in July 1973, costing £122,000. The architects were Cruickshank and Sewards.