Kensington Vestry Hall

Kensington Vestry Hall
The Kensington Vestry Hall in 2006
General information
Architectural style	Elizabethan style
Classification
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated	15 April 1969
Reference no.	1223748
Address	Kensington High Street
Town or city	London
Country	United Kingdom
Coordinates	51.5015°N 0.1926°W / 51.5015; -0.1926
Completed	1852
Client	Kensington Vestry
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Benjamin Broadbridge
Main contractor	Thomas Corby

The Kensington Vestry Hall is a former municipal building on Kensington High Street in Kensington, London, England. The structure, which was built for Kensington Vestry and now accommodates Bank Melli Iran is a Grade II listed building.[1]

History

In the first half of the 19th century parish leaders met in a room attached to St Mary Abbots Church.[2] In 1851, the newly appointed improvement commissioners decided that this arrangement was inadequate and chose to commission a purpose-built vestry hall; the site they chose had previously been used as a burial ground by the church.[2]

The new building was designed by the architect, James Broadbridge, in the Elizabethan style,[2][3][4] was built by Thomas Corby in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £5,000 and was completed in 1852.[3][5][6] Its completion was met with dismay by ratepayers, who complained about the outlandish railings.[7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Kensington High Street with the end bays gabled and slightly projected forward; the central bay, which also slightly projected forward, featured an arched porch with a stone surround, a prominent bay window on the first floor and a heraldic frieze and an octagonal clock turret at roof level.[1] The unsightly railings were finally removed in 1880.[2]

By the 1870s the improvement commissioners were already finding the building too small and they relocated to a more substantial building in 1880.[8] The old vestry hall was then converted for use as the Kensington Central Library and was officially re-opened in that capacity by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll in November 1889.[9] The building remained in use as a library for much of the 20th century until the Kensington Central Library relocated to a new site on Hornton Street in 1960.[2] The old vestry hall was listed as Grade II by English Heritage on 15 April 1969[1] and, by 1998, it was "the only substantial remnant" of what the street looked like during the Victorian era.[7] It subsequently became the home of Bank Melli Iran.[10][11]

References

1. Historic England. "Bank Melli Iran, Formerly Public Library (1223748)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
2. Sheppard, F. H. W., ed. (1973). "The village centres around St. Mary Abbots church and Notting Hill Gate". Survey of London: Volume 37, Northern Kensington. London: London County Council. pp. 25–41. Retrieved 3 October 2016 – via British History Online.
3. "Watercolour of Kensington Vestry Hall by the architect James Broadbridge, 1852". Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
4. New Vestry Hall, Kensington. The Builder. 12 June 2021. p. 373.
5. "New Vestry Hall, Kensington". Look and Learn. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
6. Loftie, William John; Luker, William (2015). Kensington Picturesque & Historical. Palala Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-1341566011.
7. Denny, Barbara; Starren, Carolyn (1998). Kensington Past. London, U.K.: Historical Publications. pp. 7–8. ISBN 9780948667503. OCLC 42308455.
8. "London's Town Halls". Historic England. p. 136. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
9. Denny, Barbara; Starren, Carolyn (1998). Kensington Past. London, U.K.: Historical Publications. p. 152. ISBN 9780948667503. OCLC 42308455.
10. "Iran's shrinking commercial empire in London". The National News. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
11. "Newspaper says Iran financed IRA". UPI. 21 August 1994. Retrieved 7 August 2021.