Dusk At Warrington Town Hall Cheshire England UK

Here shown at dusk, Warrington Town Hall is in the town of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It consists of a house, originally called Bank Hall, flanked by two detached service wings at right angles to the house, one on each side. The house and the service wings are each designated by English Heritage as Grade I listed buildings. At the time the house was built Warrington was in the historic county of Lancashire. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner declared it to be "the finest house of its date in south Lancashire" Bank Hall was built in 1750 for Thomas Patten. The architect was James Gibbs and it is likely that it was the last important building of his design to be completed in his lifetime. When it was built it stood in open countryside to the north of the town of Warrington. The Patten family were important merchants in the town. Thomas' father had made the lower River Mersey navigable from Runcorn to Bank Quay, Warrington, and had established a copper smelting factory at Bank Quay. In 1870 John Wilson-Patten, 1st Baron Winmarleigh, sold the hall to Warrington Borough Council for £9000 (£640, 000 as of 2013), and 13 acres (5.3 ha) of surrounding land for a further £15, 000 (£1, 060, 000 as of 2013). Almost all of the land was opened as Warrington's first public park in 1873. When the house was built, it was surrounded by a high wall. In 1895 this was replaced by iron railings and a fine set of gates.