Battersea Arts Centre

Mountford's Battersea Municipal Buildings and Town Hall opened in 1893, an architectural gem of the municipality civic type. Large, detached building leading through a corridor with ornate glass dome to the Grand Hall at rear. The main façade is in free classical style, red brick with stone dressings and high pantiled roof; Ionic Columns to porch; relief above depicting the female figures of Authority and Relaxation, and above this the Battersea Coat-of-Arms supported by Prudence and Justice. The interior is modern Renaissance, with extravagant mosaic floors throughout. The elaborate entrance foyer leads to an Imperial staircase of white Sicilian marble with deep garlanded cornice and lantern light. The former oak panelled Council Chamber on the first floor with its segmental barrel-vaulted ceiling enriched with plaster strapwork and gallery at the East end is now a 'black box' theatre with flexible seating. A corridor leads into an octagonal vestibule covered by cast-iron framed dome with stained-glass panels decorated with Renaissance motifs.

Impressive Grand Hall to the rear with segmental barrel-vaulted ceiling with elaborate neo-Jacobean strapwork. It was severely damaged by fire in March 2015. The Proscenium arch and spandrels to window arches enriched with scrolls and putti. The Organ was installed in 1901 and designed by Robert Hope-Jones, the creator of the theatre organ, then working for Norman & Beard. The Baroque-style oak case of five sections (two either side of the proscenium arch and stage and one at rear of the stage), designed by Pilditch, a significant feature. The balcony with concave timber-panelled front was enlarged 1936. The Lower hall, remodelled in 1926, has ceiling with full-width plastered girders decorated with borough motif and embellished with neo-Grec plasterwork, designed by Henry Hyams, assistant borough surveyor.

Ancillary rooms are used for other arts and exhibitions, café and bar areas. In 2007 Battersea Arts Centre embarked on a nine year capital project to improve facilities and access and restore original heritage features. This included refurbishment of the Grand Hall in 2010 and the Council Chamber in 2012. On 13 March 2015 approximately one third of the building was damaged by fire, including the Grand Hall and Lower Hall, and the roof to the Grand Hall was completely destroyed.