The town hall project was initiated by the then-West Maitland Borough Council. The foundation stone for the town hall was laid on 26 January 1888, and it formally opened on 28 February 1890. It was designed by local architects Lee and Scobie, who beat out prominent local architect John W. Pender in a design competition, and built by Henry Noad. The total cost of the building, including lighting and furnishings, came to "nearly £7000". Australia's first prime minister, Edmund Barton, opened his government's campaign for the inaugural 1901 federal election at the West Maitland Town Hall on 17 January 1901. He was elected unopposed to the Division of Hunter, which included Maitland. The building underwent major extensions in 1934 at a cost of £10,000. It included new offices, a new supper room/small dance hall, new larger stage in the auditorium and new dressing-rooms. Part of the extension was funded by loans from the Unemployment Relief Council as a Great Depression relief measure. It underwent a $2 million refurbishment in 2015-16, including lighting, audiovisual and air conditioning upgrades, stage rigging replacement, acoustic wall treatments, preservation works to the original sprung floor and painting the auditorium interior.
Description
The building is designed in the Victorian Classical style. It features a symmetrical facade with a central tower and Corinthian columns supporting pediments over the ground floor windows, with elaborate classical detail in Corinthian pilasters, string courses and pediments. The City of Maitland describes it as a "good example of Victorian civic architecture in Classical style", an "important landmark in High Street and contributor to the unique townscape of Central Maitland".
Heritage listing
Maitland Town Hall is significant within New South Wales as a representative of nineteenth-century civic centres with grand architectural forms. This town hall's Victorian Architecture is impressive in its High Street streetscape and intact state. The tower makes the town hall a local landmark and reinforces the role of High Street as the dominant thoroughfare of the town. The town hall is the best example of its type within the Upper Hunter region, and comparable to other regional town halls of the 1880s Boom period. It is of regional significance for demonstrating the growth, prosperity and regional importance of West Maitland from the 1880s. The continuation of the original council chamber functions provides evidence for the civic stability of Maitland and has associations with key events and people in Maitland's municipal history. The town hall has important associations with the cultural life of West Maitland and wider region as a venue for performers and focal point for community events. Maitland Town Hall was listed on the New South Wales StateHeritage Register on 2 April 1999.
