The hall was designed by local architect Herbert Gates to include an opera house/community hall/auditorium. The hall included a kitchen allowing it to be used for community dances and banquets. In 1984 the building was designated a Canadian National Historic Site.
No longer Liverpool's town hall, it has recently been restored and renovated, then reopened as a cultural centre and theatre, the Astor Theatre. No longer Liverpool's town hall, it has recently been restored and renovated, then reopened as a cultural centre and theatre, the Astor Theatre. The Astor Theatre provides both live stage theatre and movies. The movies screened include first run movies, Canadian made movies, both drama and documentary, and International films.
The cultural centre includes display space for museum artefacts which will be rotated through various locations in Nova Scotia, Liverpool included.
Below is the text from the CNHS plaque, while further below can be found the text from the Historic Places Canada Statement of Significance.
Designed by Halifax architect Herbert E. Gates, this dignified town hall was constructed in 1901 1902. Such buildings were central to civic life across the country, providing accommodation for the growing number of services administered by local governments and reflecting the pride and community spirit of the municipalities they served. This town hall features restrained classical detailing and is distinguished by its wooden construction. Although wood was the characteristic building material of the Maritimes, it rarely was used on town halls of this scale in the 20th century.
Liverpool Town Hall and Astor Theatre
Description of Historic Place
The Liverpool Town Hall and Astor Theatre is a large, two-and-one-half storey, wood structure located on Main Street in Liverpool, NS. Built in 1901, the building was designed for a multi-use function, which is reflected through its large scale and its back-to-back building form. Both the building and its surrounding land are included in the designation.
Heritage Value
The Liverpool Town Hall and Astor Theatre is valued as an important example of the work of well known local architect Herbert Gates. Gates trained in the office of Edward Elliot, the architect of Halifax City Hall, and established his own practice in 1898. Between 1899 and 1903, the period in which the Liverpool Town Hall was designed, Gates also taught architecture at the Victoria School of Art and Design. Gates received many commissions, including the Nova Scotia Telephone Company, for buildings throughout the province, the Department of Education, and provincial hospitals. One of Gates’ most accomplished designs was the Nova Scotia Technical College, now the School of Architecture and Planning building at Dalhousie University.
The Liverpool Town Hall and Astor Theatre is also valued as a nineteenth century town hall that uniquely combines civic offices and a public auditorium. Liverpool was incorporated in 1895 and therefore needed a town hall. During the second half of the nineteenth century the growth in civic bureaucracies caused town halls to focus building design to meet administrative needs. In large cities administrative requirements tended to dominate completely the use of a town hall, but smaller communities often built combined-function town halls. Built in 1901, the municipal courtroom, police office, public reading room and deed and probate offices originally were located on the ground floor. A birch stairway runs from the hall to a spacious assembly room and the council chambers above. The design also incorporated kitchen facilities so that the assembly room could be used for community dances and banquets. Originally there was seating for four-hundred and eight on the main floor, and another one-hundred and fifty in the gallery. Currently the theatre seats just over three hundred people. The auditorium area also contained a box office, cloakrooms, and dressing rooms. The architect expressed the function of the building throughout the exterior of the building including the design of the entrance on Main Street with its open pediment supported by freestanding columns.
Character-Defining Elements
Character-defining elements of the Liverpool Town Hall and Astor Theatre that relate to is dual function include:
- two units as part of one larger exterior structure, each with its own entrance, sitting back to back;
- front section of building serving as Town Hall with principal entrance off Main Street treated formally with an open pediment supported by free standing columns, and rear section serving as a theatre.
Character-defining elements of the Liverpool Town Hall and Astor Theatre include:
- wood construction;
- hipped roof with gable roof projection on either ends of the front façade;
- brackets beneath the eaves;
- round headed windows in the attic;
- dormer window on front façade;
- birch stairway off the main floor hallway
From Historic Places Canada