Reading Town Hall

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.[8]

However Greyfriars did not prove a successful town hall, and some twenty 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.[9][10]

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.[1][4][10]

In 1864, the 1780s building was redecorated in an Italianate style by William Henry Woodman, the borough surveyor. At the same time an organ, built by Father Willis and presented by the Reading Philharmonic Society, was installed.[1][4][11]

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 is still a distinctive Reading landmark.

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Town_Hall)