Local history

Statue of miners by Robert Kiddey

The County Hall building was designed by Emanuel Vincent Harris in the 1930's. His work includes Sheffield City Hall, Leeds Civic Hall and Manchester Central Library.

County Hall has a Portland stone base, used for many civic buildings, and a copper roof which has turned green over the years.

The entrance to County Hall

The entrance to the Hall is flanked by statues of miners and workers (see above); they're the work of Nottingham artist Robert Kiddey (1900-84).

Bell tower

The original plans for County Hall featured a bell tower which was about three times as high as the present building and would have dominated the view of the River Trent.

However, the tower plans were abandoned due to the outbreak of World War II.

Local historian Chris Matthews has been researching the building, he says:

"[The tower] would have put Nottingham alongside cities like Venice, or the great trading cities of northern Europe, it had that kind of ambition."

The prefabricated side of County Hall

Spring loaded

The second half of County Hall, on Trent-side, is a grey prefabricated extension built in the 1960s.

It was designed by the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme
(CLASP).

The building was made with a series of steel frames, clad with concrete. They were also spring loaded in order to withstand mining subsidence and even earthquakes.

Some designers believed CLASP buildings could one day be the homes of people living on the moon.

Concrete side of County Hall

Many of Nottinghamshire's schools were built in this way including the Kimberley School.

Before CLASP, the old building's windows used to break when the coal board were sinking a new shaft.

The CLASP building ethos was imported to many other countries but can still be seen all over Nottinghamshire in schools, fire stations and community centres.