Caxton Hall
51°29′54.98″N 0°8′4.66″W / 51.4986056°N 0.1346278°W
Caxton Hall is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster , London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and artistic events and after the second world war was the most popular registry office used by the famous who did not marry in church.
History
It was designed by William Lee and F.J. Smith in an ornate Dutch style in 1878 and was originally called the Westminster City Hall.[1]
It was opened as Westminster Town Hall in 1883 and then was used as well for a variety of purposes including as a concert hall and venue for public meetings.
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), part of the British Suffragette movement held a ‘Women's Parliament’ at Caxton Hall at the beginning of each parliamentary session from 1907, with a subsequent procession to the Houses of Parliament and an attempt (always unsuccessful) to deliver a petition to the prime minister in person.[1]
Alister Crowley and friends celebrated the Rites of Eleusis in the hall in in October and November, 1910.
In 1940 it was the site of the assassination of Michael O'Dwyer, former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab in India by Indian nationalist Udham Singh, as an act of revenge for the 1919 Amritsar massacre. [1]
In World War II it was used by the Ministry of Information as a venue for press conferences held by Winston Churchill and his ministers.
The National Front, an openly neo-nazi British political party was formed at a meeting in Caxton Hall, Westminster on 7th February 1967.
It was also used as a central London registry office until 1979, and many famous people were married there including Donald Campbell (two marriages), Billy Butlin, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Dors, Peter Sellers, Roger Moore, Orson Wells, Joan Collins, Yehudi Menuhin, Adam Faith, Robin Nedwell, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Future Prime Minister Anthony Eden wedded the niece of the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Clarissa Churchill-Spencer there on 18 August 1952.[1]
The registry office closed in 1979 and the building stood empty for years getting a place on the Buildings at Risk Register.[1]
It was redeveloped as apartments and offices in 2006, but the facade and former registry office were restored and retained. [2]
References
- ^ a b c d e CAXTON HALL The London Encyclopaedia, By Christopher Hibbert, Ben Weinreb, John Keay, Julia Keay, Matthew Weinreb, Pan Macmillan, 2009 ISBN 1405049251
- ^ GLA planning report PDU/0583/01 2003
- Mr. Eden weds niece of the Prime Minister ITN News 18 August 1952
- Caxton Hall in Westminster and the marriage of Diana Dors to Dennis Hamilton Nickel in the machine. Accessed July 2011
- MoLAS 2004 Report Caxton Hall . Accessed July 2011
External links
- Caxton Hall in Westminster and the marriage of Diana Dors to Dennis Hamilton Another Nickel in the Machine. Accessed July 2011. Many pictures of Caxton Hall events.