[2] Following significant population growth, largely associated with the increasing number of commuter homes in the area, the villages of Coulsdon, Purley and Sanderstead were brought together as an urban district within the historic county of Surrey in 1915.

[3] In the 1920s the new civic leaders decided to procure council offices for the area: the site chosen was open land on the north side of Brighton Road.

[6] The new building was designed in the Neo-Georgian style, built in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £30,000 and was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir William Neal, on 8 November 1930.

[8] It subsequently served as a venue for community events before being sold to a developer in 2002;[9] it then remained derelict for a decade before being converted into twenty-three apartments in 2012.

[10] A scheme submitted by the developer seeking to undertake underground excavation to create an extra eight apartments was refused by the council in July 2015.