Town Hall

Ventnor Town Hall stands in Albert Street on the Isle of Wight, its Grade II listed façade facing a busy town thoroughfare. Built in 1878 as the Undercliffe Assembly Rooms, the ashlar stone building was designed by local architect Theodore Ridley Saunders in Italianate style. The foundation stone was laid by Annie Snowden Henry on 20 December 1877, marking the start of a project completed within a year. The hall once seated 600 people and hosted public events such as speeches by George Lansbury and Philip Bagwell in 1924. After a 1936 fire and later use as a wig and clothing factory, the building became a nightclub called the Coconut Grove until a 1978 blaze closed it. A series of fires followed before 1994, when new flats were created behind the preserved façade. The two-storey structure shows fine classical detail, with a projecting portico of Ionic columns on the ground floor and Corinthian pilasters above. Round-headed windows with keystones line both floors, and the first-floor bays carry a modillioned cornice and parapet. The Grade II listing recognises its architectural importance since 1976.