ABSTRACT
In the earlier part of the century, there were a number of exceptionally fine Classical town halls such as Belfast City Hall of 1906 and Stockport Town Hall of 1908 – both by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas and London ‘County’ Hall, by Ralph Knott of 1922. Copenhagen City Hall can be seen clearly as a medieval Palazzo Pubblica in the style of Siena – a brick fortress, with inner courtyards, campanile and even its own Piazza Campo – if there were any doubt, the swallow-topped merlature which crown the building’s parapet confirm the link with northern Italy. Hilversum’s architecture had no apparent historical references and appeared to be a three-dimensional composition of pure rectangular form. In many ways, Hepworth’s design is unremarkable – it is a symmetrical H-plan building, with a central entrance portico, with council chamber, on axis, to the rear, on the first floor – it could be the plan of a Palladian country house.
