Hornsey Town Hall To Become Drama School

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 149 months ago
Hornsey Town Hall To Become Drama School

The last time we caught up with Hornsey Town Hall, the Grade II*-listed Modernist beauty in Crouch End that has been vacant since the 1980s when the the last few staff members were moved to Haringey's HQ, it was being prepped for a 21st-century re-birth as an arts centre.

The centre never materialised, but there is a new scheme afoot to turn the building into a drama school. The plan, drawn up by Bennetts Associates, adds a three-storey wing and converts the main council chamber into a theatre. It would be occupied by Wood Green-based Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Turning the town hall into a theatrical space does have a precedent — we enjoyed a strange audio guide through the building two years ago — but this new plan means that access would be restricted to budding Ben Wishaws, with the non-greasepaint wearing types only able to glimpse those wonderful interiors when going to a performance of when they appear on television (the building is regularly used as a set, most recently playing the Lime Grove studios in BBC drama The Hour).

More images of the planned conversion can be found at Building Design. Should it go ahead, the new facility would open in 2014.

Last Updated 05 October 2011