Before the Town Hall Complex was Built
Sedbergh House
The Ilkley Town Hall complex took a while to come to fruition. In 1894 the Ilkley Urban District Council was elected with several members from the old Local Board. At that time the Council rented offices in Springfield House facing into the Canker Well. By 1900 their landlord Dr. Johnson, built an extension west providing three shops and a first floor Council Chamber and Local Board offices. The original land upon which the current complex sits is the site of Sedbergh House with to its west the Midland Hotel, shops and the North View Hotel, which had replaced a row of cottages.
In 1875 Sedbergh House was purchased by Edward Hirst Wade, a prominent Bradford mill owner, from the Free School of King Edward the 6th at Sedbergh. Mr Wade moved into the property, previously occupied by the Bolling farming family of Wheatley and lived there until he died in 1894. He was a governor of Ilkley Grammar School, a founding member of Ilkley Lawn Tennis Club and installed the first domestic electric light in Ilkley.
Cottages to the west
Sedbergh House Back Garden
In July 1896 Cllr. J T Jackson bought the Sedbergh House estate for £7,800 and sold on to the Council the relevant portions upon which a Town Hall could be erected for £6,270 with the Council taking a thirty year loan for this in 1897. As the photo of Sedbergh House in 1896 demonstrates, it was in a dilapidated state and the Council at once pulled it down to widen Station Road.
Around the same time a Dr Spence of Weston donated land to the town as an open space, now Spences Gardens at the bottom of King's Road and Grove Road . In 1897 a Jubilee Committee proposed that the Town Hall be built in front of these new gardens.
Over the course of the next few years debate continued about the site and design, however the "Great Flood" of July 1900 caused extensive damage to Ilkley and rates had to increase forcing the Council to defer discussion on the Town Hall.
By 1902 negotiations to purchase the land at Spences Gardens had fallen through and the Council, with Cllr Jackson now Chairman, decided to move forward with building on the Station Road site. In November 1903 they advertised a competition with a £100 prize to design the buildings. With an entry cost of a guinea, sixty entries were submitted for Leeds architect GM Bulmer to assess. Only the councillors saw all sixty entries displayed in St Margaret's Hall (Grove Square today and subject of a subsequent Blue Plaque) with the three top designs displayed to the public at Boden's Corner Shop (50 The Grove, today Paul Verity Opticians). In May 1904 the winner was announced as William Bakewell of Leeds for his plan entitled 'Economy'.
Town Hall Complex Construction and Opening
The estimated cost of Bakewell's design was £13,000. It was to be financed from £10,000 on a thirty year loan and £3,000 for American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie for the library. A further loan of £2,600 was later agreed for furnishings. Despite 1904/5 being a time of economic depression and deputations by rate payers requesting a postponement, contracts were awarded in August 1905 and the foundation stone laid by Cllr J.T. Jackson on January 31 1906. Further funding was found to be required to purchase additional land to the rear to make space for a stage in the King's Hall.
Rev Dr Robert Collyer, a well-known Ilkley born Unitarian clergyman, and a friend of Andrew Carnegie, formerly opened the unfinished library on 2 October 1907 when he was visiting England from America to receive a doctorate from the University of Leeds,. The ceremonial presentation key was made by Earnshaw's of 41 Brook Street.
In the Library there were busts of Dr Collyer and Andrew Carnegie.
On 27 April 1908 the Town Hall, there was a grand official opening. At this celebration, the members of the Council gave speeches and walked down The Grove in procession from their former rented premises to the new building, which was illuminated in the evening by flashing electric lights. The Town Hall ceremonial key made for Mr J T Jackson who led the opening was made by J W Hudson of 28 Brook Street.
The head seen today above the stage in the Kings Hall is that of King Edward VII, commissioned only in March 1908. Hence the photo of the "New Assembly Hall" does not show this with the name only changed to King's Hall in May 1908.
The King's Hall was the location of various rallies, including ones addressed by Suffragette Adela Pankhurst, William Booth of The Salvation Army, and Robert Baden-Powell shortly after it first opened. It has also held the Wharfedale Music Festival since opening, and had cinema equipment installed in 1910.
Winter Gardens
To its west between the King's Hall and the Midland Hotel was a terrace garden which was replaced by the Winter Garden. The first scheme proposed in 1910 costing between £2,000 and £3,000 was amended to embody a pitch pine floor suitable for dancing, however it was not until February 1912 that the application to borrow £3,000 for its building was agreed. The building being 117ft long, and on average 42ft wide, with a balcony, refreshment serving room and kitchen, and the sprung dancing floor. In addition direct access to the King's Hall so that it can be used for promenade purposes. Mr. Henry West, building inspector under the District Council designed the building, and although the roof was to be glass, the front elevation was to be architecturally in keeping with the rest of the Town Hall buildings. Work began in the summer of 1912 and the building was opened by Councillor J. Dinsdale, Chair of Ilkley Urban Council with a ceremony on 22 June 1914, coinciding with the official birthday celebrations of George V.