Sheffield City Hall is a Grade II* listed building in Sheffield, England, containing several venues, ranging from the Oval Concert Hall which seats over 2,000 people to a ballroom featuring a sprung dance floor. It is currently operated by Sheffield International Venues.
The large hall dominates Barker's Pool, one of Sheffield's central squares, which also contains the city's War Memorial.
The building was designed in 1920 by E. Vincent Harris but construction was delayed 8 years because of the economic climate in the early 1920s. Eventually construction started with the laying of the foundation stone in 1929 and the City Hall was officially opened on 22 September 1932. During World War II a bomb exploded in Barkers Pool, damaging the pillars of the building. The scars of the explosion can still be seen to this day. It is a neo-classical building with a giant portico. The Oval Hall is the largest hall in the building, seating 2,271 people and is commanded by an angel's chorus. This provides both natural light to the main hall and can also be used by a hidden choir whose voices are carried through the building and down onto the audience. The Grand Willis III Organ is the largest in Sheffield with over 4000 pipes and four manuals. The organ sits in a chamber situated behind the large decorative grilles facing the audience.
The Oval Hall is complemented by the more intimate 500-seater Memorial Hall and the Ballroom which can host anything from after show parties to club nights and afternoon tea-dances.
In 2005, the City Hall and its surroundings were refurbished and re-developed at a cost of £12.5 million.
The hall is managed by the Sheffield City Trust, under a 99 year lease.
Manor Operatic Society perform their annual pantomime here.
Famous quotes containing the words city and/or hall:
“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)
“Let us not be too much acquainted. I would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred sculptures, that he might not want the hint of tranquillity and self-poise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)