Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Hornsey Town Hall wins Heritage Lottery Funding
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the revamp of Hornsey Town Hall.
The project aims to restore and protect this important Grade II* listed building to create a home for Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and a hub of cultural and community activity for Haringey.
Sue Bowers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund London, said, “Hornsey Town Hall is a wonderful heritage gem in the heart of North London and a fine example of 1930s architecture and design. The Heritage Lottery Fund support will help Mountview Academy and Haringey Council progress exciting restoration and regeneration plans that will see the Hall brought back into use for the local community.”
Tags for Forum Posts: crouch end, hornsey town hall
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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As far as I understand it, Hornsey Town Hall (HTH) will effectively be closed for the next 125 years - the length of the Mountview Theatre Academy lease (they'll pay £1/yr in rent). The existing large car park behind it will be concreted over to pay for part of the renovation (the rest of the approx £20m coming out of the public purse), losing the highly overdeveloped Crouch End the public open space it deserves, in favour of 78 private flats (not shown in the diagram). I think the nice thirties clinic on the campus will be demolished to make way for a new Studio for Mountview.
Facts are hard to come by (almost nothing has been published by the Council, the Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust or Mountview themselves). No documents have been made public. There are no publicly accessible minutes of any meetings held between the parties since the surprise decision in April 2011. The previous seven years saw £2m of our money spent on elaborate plans by the Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust for multi-use by and for the community.
The parts we might be allowed to use are:
1) The Assembly Hall, when it is not in use by Mountview, who currently mount weekly 'student' productions at peak times. In the past a local group was quoted £6,000 to use the hall by the Council.
2) Mountview will allow the foyer in front of the Assembly Hall to be used for 'occasional' art exhibitions provided, presumably, that they rate the work as being of high enough quality.
3) The Council Chamber will be able to be hired out by anyone with the money.
In other words, Mountview will fill the building with students (paying between £10-£15,000/yr in fees). Mountview will get £20m spent on their luxury HQ and take the building off our hands. Provided we pay 100% of the costs, they'll allow us to use parts of it if they like what we do.
Over the last 18 months, HTH has paid it's way being rented out to film Companies. Were that sort of thing to continue, we could have free use for the community during rental gaps at no cost to anyone and to the great benefit of our town.
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