Project Description

Edwardian authority, washed in violet, still holding the South Bank.

Up close and after dark, County Hall is a different building entirely. The curved colonnade sweeps across the facade in a crescent of Ionic columns, the name set in illuminated letters along the parapet, and the central tower rises into a black London sky bathed in deep purple wash lighting that turns Portland stone into something almost otherworldly. It is, without question, one of the finest Edwardian public buildings in England — and the night lighting does it no disservice.

Designed by Ralph Knott and completed in 1933 after nearly two decades of construction, County Hall was built to house the London County Council — the governing body of the world’s largest city at the height of its power. The scale was intentional. The curved river frontage was intentional. Everything about this building was designed to project the weight and legitimacy of London governance from across the Thames.

The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986. The building became a hotel, an aquarium, and a museum. The colonnade doesn’t care. It just keeps curving.