Following significant population growth, largely associated with the shipping industry, a local board of health was established in the area in 1872.[1] The local board of health was replaced by Wirral Rural District Council in 1894 and by Ellesmere Port and Whitby Urban District Council in 1902.[2] The new council initially established offices at Bank Buildings in Station Street,[3] before opening dedicated offices in 1908.[4][5] The council then moved to the former home of the Grace family, Whitby Hall, in 1931.[6]
After the Second World War, a memorial, in the form of an irregular monolith of stone bearing by a plaque commemorating the lives of veterans involved in the Normandy landings, was unveiled to the west of the council offices at the corner of Stanney Lane and Whitby Road.[7][8]
The area became a municipal borough in 1955 and, in that context, the council found that the Whitby Hall was inadequate and decided to commission a new civic complex. The site they selected was open land on the north side of Stanney Lane.[9] The council offices were the final phase of the development of the new civic complex in the new town centre, following the opening of the Civic Hall in 1955, and a library in 1962.[10] The new five-storey building was designed under the supervision of the borough engineer and surveyor, Howard Wilson,[11] in the modern style, built in concrete, glass and brick and was completed in 1969. The main frontage was faced with alternating bands of concrete cladding and steel-framed glass and there were brick-clad staircase towers at centre and ends of the structure.[12]
The building continued to serve as the local administrative headquarters after the area became part of the new Borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston in 1974.[13] However, council meetings continued to be held at Whitby Hall until the early 1990s, when the council offices were extended. The additions including a new hexagonal shaped structure, containing a purpose-built council chamber, and an underground bunker, intended for use in the event of a nuclear attack.[14] In 2009, the borough became part of Cheshire West and Chester.[15]
In 2005, a new civic square was established to the east of the council offices. The centrepiece of the civic square was a new war memorial, in the form of a celtic cross on a cruciform base commemorating the lives of all local service personnel who had died in military conflict, which was unveiled on 11 November 2005.[16][17]
The new council continued to use the building to deliver services until May 2022, when it moved to a new building in the town, The Portal.[18] Demolition of the building was approved, but was delayed until 2024 due to the need to relocate mobile phone masts from the roof.[19][20][21]
^Tenders open. Vol. 38. Roads and Road Construction. 1960. p. 44. Contract documents from the borough engineer and surveyor, Queen Street, Ellesmere Port
^Appointments. Vol. 80. Municipal Journal. 1972. p. 106. Ellesmere Port BC , has been appointed borough engineer and surveyor in succession to Howard Wilson
^"Borough of Ellesmere Port". Cheshire Observer. Chester. 12 December 1969. p. 11. Retrieved 6 September 2022. ...at the new Municipal Offices, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port...
^Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN0-10-547072-4.