The first recorded town or guild hall for Reading was known as the
Yield Hall and is known to have been situated beside the
River Kennet near the current
Yield Hall Lane. However, by the middle of the 16th century this had proved too small, and the spoils of the
dissolution of the monasteries were to provide both of the town's next two halls. Initially, in 1543, the town was granted part of the former friary that was later to become
Greyfriars Church. However Greyfriars did not prove a successful town hall, and some 20 years later the council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the former refectory of the
Hospitium of St John, Reading Abbey's
hospitium. The lower floor of this building continued to be used by
Reading School, as it had been since 1486. For the next 200 years, the old monastic building continued to serve as Reading's town hall, but by the 18th century it was suffering from structural weakness. Between 1785 and 1786, the old hall was dismantled and replaced on the same site by the first of several phases of building that were to make up today's Town Hall. This part of the building later became known as the Small Town Hall or the Victoria Hall, to distinguish it from the much later concert hall. The new hall was designed by Alderman Charles Poulton, a cabinet maker by trade, and is today largely hidden behind later extensions. The rear elevation and four
sash windows with semi-circular tops can be seen from St Laurence's churchyard. In 1875 an extension and new frontage was designed in
Victorian Gothic style by the architect Alfred Waterhouse, involving partial demolition of the 1780s building but retaining the core hall. The new frontage was built with red and grey bricks, together with
terracotta ornaments, all of which were products of the town's Colliers' brickworks. This extension added a council chamber and offices to the building, and the clock tower over its entrance (which is still a distinctive Reading landmark). Waterhouse was subsequently asked to design a further extension including a new concert hall, museum and library, but this was thought too expensive. Instead the council decided to hold a design competition, and this was won by
Thomas Lainson with a design that continued Waterhouse's Gothic styling. Again an Italianate style was used for the interior, and Lainson designed a new
Baroque style case for the organ, which was enhanced and relocated into the new concert hall. The concert hall opened in 1882, and was followed by the museum and library in 1883–4. A gala ball and a cabaret were held in the town hall that year as part of the borough's fund raising efforts for
Wings for Victory Week. By 1951 the administration of the town had overflowed the available offices in the Town Hall, and the council decided to build new civic offices. Finally in 1976, the civic offices moved out to the newly built
Reading Civic Centre. In 1985 the library moved to a new
central library building on King's Road, leaving only the museum and concert hall in use. After some debate, plans to demolish the Town Hall and replace it with a new cultural centre were dropped, and in 1986 refurbishment of the building started with the closure of the concert hall. The refurbishment was completed in 2000, bringing the concert hall back into use and providing several new galleries for the museum and art gallery. ==See also==