4 The Town Hall (formerly St. Nicholas House)
The Town Hall, just across the street from the
Royal Hotel, was built in the 1840s as a residence
for John Woodall, a member of a prominent
family of Scarborough bankers. The building
was designed by Henry Wyatt who displayed the
design at the Royal Academy in 1852. Wyatt also
designed the ‘Gothic Pavilion’ at the Spa and
Woodall, Hebden & Co’s bank at the corner of St
Nicholas Street and Newborough – now Barclays.
The style of the house is Jacobean in red brick
with stone trim and this style was emulated when
the building was acquired by Scarborough
Corporation and substantially enlarged and
remodelled to form the Town Hall. The original
owner's initials may be seen in the gable end
high above the main entrance which also contains
the ornate date 1844.
John Woodall died on 9th February 1879 and
was succeeded by his son John W. Woodall, who
offered the house and associated gardens to the
Corporation in 1898. The decision as to where to
site a new Town Hall was resolved at a meeting
on 5th April 1898, when the Corporation decided
to buy St. Nicholas House. Harry W. Smith, the
recently appointed borough engineer and
surveyor, designed the new eastern (seaward)
wing in a similar style to the original, to
accommodate the council chamber and other
offices. The Jacobean theme was continued in
the design of the Council chamber and other
features. This work was completed in 1903 and
the new Town Hall was officially opened by
Princess Henry of Battenburg in the same year.
The purchase also included the St Nicholas Cliff
undercliff and the Borough Engineer also
redesigned these gardens which were opened to
the public on 14th August 1900. Further redesign
and substantial remodelling was done in 2001
and the gardens were reopened on the 12th
December of that year. Harry Smith went on to
lay out or redesign most of Scarborough’s parks
and pleasure grounds during the next 30 years,
including Peasholm Park and the Italian Gardens
on the South Cliff. Further alterations to the
Town Hall were made in 1962-64, with extensions
in King Street and St. Nicholas Street.
The statue of Queen Victoria in the Town Hall
gardens is the only statue of a public figure to be
found in Scarborough.
