Limehouse Town Hall


Limehouse Town Hall is a former town hall building on Commercial Road, in Limehouse, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a Grade II listed building.

History

The foundation stone for the building was laid on 21 October 1879. The building was designed Arthur and Christopher Harston in the Palazzo style and was opened as the vestry hall of the Limehouse District on 29 March 1881.
After the civil parish became a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900, the town hall ceased the seat of local government and was used as offices.
On 30 July 1909 the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George made a polemical speech in the assembly room, attacking the House of Lords for its opposition to his "People's Budget". This speech was the origin of the phrase "To Limehouse", or "Limehousing", which meant an incendiary political speech. The building was transferred to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 1965 and was subsequently used as the National Museum of Labour History until serving as the Wapping Neighbourhood Offices in the 1980s.
It was placed on English Heritage's list of buildings at risk in 2003. After receiving a grant from English Heritage, it was restored and re-opened as a community centre in April 2012.

Features and current use

The building has a number of offices located below a grand assembly room. It currently houses the Limehouse Town Hall Consortium Trust, which has a long lease on the building from Tower Hamlets Council, and is home to several groups, such as the Boxing Club, and some self-help bicycle maintenance workshops.
The building is not generally open to the public, but participates in Open House London for guided tours of the building.