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Wesley House, formerly the
Council Offices, is a former municipal building on Bull Hill,
Leatherhead, Surrey, England. The building, which was the
headquarters of Leatherhead Urban District Council, is a Grade
II listed building.
Following significant population growth, largely associated with
the development of family-based manufacturing firms, the area
became an urban district in 1894. Civic leaders initially
established themselves in offices in Church Street. However, as
the responsibilities of local authorities increased, the council
decided to procure purpose-built council offices: the site they
selected on Bull Hill was occupied by an 18th century building
known as "Kingston House".
The works began with the demolition of Kingston House which took
place in 1933. The new building was designed by C. H. Rose and
H. R. Gardner in the neoclassical style and built in red brick
with stone dressings. At its official opening in May 1935,
Viscount Wakefield unveiled a plaque to commemorate John
Wesley's historic visit to Kingston House. The design involved a
symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto the corner
of Bull Hill and Leret Way with the end bays featuring sash
windows with swan-necked pediments on the first floor; the
central bay featured a flight of steps leading up to a doorway
with a stone surround and brackets supporting an entablature. On
the first floor there was an iron balcony bearing the town's
coat of arms and a prominent rounded headed French door flanked
by full-height pilasters supporting a pediment. At roof level
there was a copper flèche and a weather vane. Internally, the
principal rooms were an entrance hall, which was decorated in an
Art Deco style, and a semi-circular council chamber which jutted
out to the rear of the building and featured fine wooden
panelling.
The council offices continued to serve as the headquarters of
Leatherhead Urban District Council for much of the 20th century
and remained a meeting place for the enlarged Mole Valley
District Council after it was formed in 1974. However, it ceased
to be the local seat of government when the district council
moved to modern offices at Dorking in 1983.
Renamed Wesley House to commemorate the connection with the
Methodist theologian, the building was then occupied by the
local Citizens Advice Bureau and by a security alarms business
before being sold to a developer in December 1999. The developer
refurbished the council chamber, converted the remainder of the
building for commercial use and added a glass and steel west
wing onto the complex.
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