Nottingham Council House sits at heart of the city at the east end of The Old Market Square. Designed by Cecil Howitt, it was opened by The Prince of Wales in 1929. It is not only the seat of The Nottingham City Council, but provides floor space for many retail outlets along its two sides and back plus the beautiful Exchange Arcade.
"Nottingham Council House is the city hall of Nottingham, England. The iconic 200 feet (61 m) high dome that rises above the city is the centrepiece of the skyline and presides over the Old Market Square (also referred to as the City Centre).
The Council House was designed by Thomas Cecil Howitt and built between 1927 and 1929 in the Neo-Baroque style characterised by the huge pillars that circle the building along with the carvings on the facade. It replaced the former Nottingham Exchange.
Housed within the dome the affectionately-nicknamed ‘Little John’ hour bell – for many years the deepest toned clock bell in the United Kingdom, weighing over 10 tonnes (10 t) – whose strike can be heard for a distance of seven miles.
Scene in the Old Market Square for the official opening of the Council House, 22 May 1929
The foundation stone (behind the left-hand lion as you approach the building) was laid by Alderman Herbert Bowles (Chairman of the Estates Committee), on 17 March 1927. The building was officially opened by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and the Duke of Windsor) on 22 May 1929. The total cost of the building at the time was £502,876 (equivalent to £28,060,000 in 2016). By the time the bill was finally cleared in 1981, the total including interest was £620,294.
The building has staged many high-profile occasions; royalty, statesmen and women and stars of the stage and screen have been entertained there and both the F.A. and European Cups have been held aloft from its balcony.
Since Nottingham City Council relocated councillors’ offices to Loxley House in 2010, the Council House is seldom used for day-to-day administrative functions. From April 2011, the building also now serves as the chief Register Office for Births, Marriages and Deaths in the City."
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Nottingham is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, England, 128 miles (206 km) north of London, in the East Midlands.
Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin Hood and to the lace-making, bicycle (notably Raleigh bikes), and tobacco industries. It was granted its city charter in 1897 as part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Nottingham is a tourist destination; in 2011, visitors spent over £1.5 billion—the thirteenth-highest amount in England's 111 statistical territories.
In 2015, Nottingham had an estimated population of 321,550 with the wider urban area, which includes many of the city's suburbs, having a population of 915,977. Its urban area is the largest in the east Midlands and the second-largest in the Midlands. The population of the Nottingham/Derby metropolitan area is estimated to be 1,610,000. Its metropolitan economy is the seventh largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $50.9bn (2014). The city is also ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
Nottingham has an award-winning public transport system, including the largest publicly owned bus network in England and is also served by Nottingham railway station and the modern Nottingham Express Transit tram system.
It is also a major sporting centre, and in October 2015 was named 'Home of English Sport'. The National Ice Centre, Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre, and Trent Bridge international cricket ground are all based in or around the city, which is also the home of two professional league football teams; the world's oldest professional league club Notts County, and Nottingham Forest, famously two-time winners of the UEFA European Cup under Brian Clough in 1979 and 1980. The city also has professional rugby, ice hockey and cricket teams, and the Aegon Nottingham Open, an international tennis tournament on the ATP and WTA tours. This accolade came just over a year after Nottingham was named as the UK's first City of Football.
On 11 December 2015, Nottingham was named a "City of Literature" by UNESCO, joining Norwich, Melbourne, Prague and Barcelona as one of only a handful in the world. The title reflects Nottingham's literary heritage, with Lord Byron, D. H. Lawrence and Alan Sillitoe having links to the city, as well as a strong contemporary literary community, a thriving publishing industry and a vibrant poetry scene.
It has two universities, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, which are attended by over 60,000 students — University of Nottingham having >33,000, and Nottingham Trent University having ~27,000, according to the respective university websites."
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