Town hall
By convention, until the middle of the 19th century, a single large open chamber (or "hall") formed an integral part of the building housing the council and such other organs of government as supported it.
In some European countries, the town hall is the venue for the declaration of Christmas Peace, such as Turku and Porvoo in Finland[4] and Tartu in Estonia.
[5] As symbols of local government, city, and town halls have distinctive architecture, and the buildings may have great historical significance – for example the Guildhall, London.
City Hall buildings often serve citizens in accessing government functions as well as providing vital symbolic roles for their communities.
The term is also sometimes (but more rarely) used as a name in Commonwealth countries: for example, for the City Halls of Brisbane in Australia, and of Cardiff, Norwich and Bristol in the UK.
The administrative headquarters of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall, signifying a place where taxes were paid.
The development of the town hall as a setting for local governance meetings and decisions is historically related to the early cities in medieval Europe.
[1] In the Early Middle Ages, the great hall, a single large open chamber, was the main, and sometimes only room of the home of a feudal lord.
Both buildings are topped by tall towers, have ancient clocks against which townsfolk measured time, and have space for local archives of official documents.
[13] Even the building form grew in size and the town hall concept expanded beyond Europe to become an established institution across the world.
In the 20th century, town halls served the public as places for voting, examinations, vaccinations, disaster relief, and disseminating information through noticeboards, as well as for the more usual civil functions, festivities, and entertainments.
Where new premises are designed and constructed to house local governments, the functions of an administrative office and a civic town hall have become separated.
