Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
And Europe will be stunned
A quick peek at the "And Europe will be stunned" in Hornsey Town Hall till 1st July. Even if you don't like the look of the exhibition, it's a chance to get a bit of a look at the art deco town hall before it all gets refurbished. Very atmospheric with the lighting and the film running at eth end of a dark corridor.
For more about "And Europe will be stunned", see the attachment at the foot of this post.
For more about the art deco interior of the old Town Hall see my Flickr set.
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Artagenel.pdf, 547 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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Hornsey Town Hall is in excellent condition practically throughout and capable of world-class use, and accommodating a huge range of community activities. It can equally be used to kill Crouch End as a diverse, creative place if the community are denied use of it. Artangel are occupying a small part of it, paying a reputed £6k for a month's part-time use. Nobody around here can afford that much, not even the local schools or faith groups, let alone the artists.
Here's an artistic contribution from me-a scale plan of the existing site - it's mostly an empty campus:
Here's what's available if you can afford it:
The building itself is huge - over 6000 square metres including a big Assembly Hall, the Lower Hall, the Foyer and the Council Chamber. The Town Hall itself is offices of various sizes - the front facing ones were designed for local people to hold committee meetings in and so have removable partitions to open up the space if needed.
The 'Broadway Annexe' is a whole wing that's been empty since the Council moved out in May 2011. Very suitable for the many community groups that are desperate for space around here. 824 square metres of usable space.
The Foyer has a separate entrance at the front and is in great condition.
The old Public Health Clinic is a jewel of a 1930's building tucked away in the back - would make a great interim artists' studio. Had been used as council offices. 556 square metres of usable space.
London Borough of Haringey 'Property Services' decide who is allowed to use it. They used to occupy the building themselves, so know it well. They lay down the law, keep everything 100% confidential and will not even tell you the rental you're likely to pay, nor do they have guidelines. They have actively prevented almost all use of it since it became officially useless in 2003 - it stopped being a Town Hall in 1965.
They're guarding the building and they're not going to let anyone in there they don't approve of. They're woefully understaffed and it's way down their list of priorities. They did smile on a local artist in 2010, and allowed another to use the public Square last year, but generally they're afraid of losing control and evidently don't think the community can do anything sensible.
Property Services did rent the Town Hall part out for ~£120k over 18months recently, but left the Annexe empty. They could let the community use the unused parts for free, but nobody can make them, so they won't. We're nevertheless going to try to prise it from their deathlike grip, so if you have a use for it, get in touch.
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