Neuadd Dwyfor

The first municipal building in the town was the Old Town Hall in the Market Square which was completed in 1731.^[2][3] However, by the turn of the century it was deemed too small and civic officials decided to commission a new structure on the north side of Penlan Street.^[4][5]

The new building was designed by the borough surveyor, Arthur James Dickinson, in the Baroque style, built in terracotta Ruabon brick at a cost of £5,800 and was officially opened in May 1902.^[1][4][6] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Penlan Street. The central bay featured a large round headed opening with a wrought iron grill in the tympanum flanked by pilasters supporting finials; there was an oriel window surmounted by volutes on the first floor and a tri-partite window on the second floor. The flanking bays were fenestrated by cross-windows on the ground and first floors and by bi-partite windows on the second floor. The outer bays featured round headed openings flanked by pilasters on the ground floor, tri-partite windows surmounted by ovolo mouldings on the first floor and bi-partite windows on the second floor. At roof level, there was a parapet, which was decorated by panels bearing carved cartouches, and, above the parapet, there was a wrought iron railing which was broken by a central pediment.^[1] Internally, the principal room was the main auditorium, which featured a proscenium arch.^[7]

The town hall served as events venue from an early stage offering theatre and concert performances and, from March 1911, showings of silent films.^[8] Margaret Lloyd George, the wife of the future Prime Minister, spoke at a British Army recruiting event in the building in September 1914 at the start of the First World War and the mezzo-soprano opera singer, Leila Megàne, performed there in October 1919.^[9]

The building continued to serve as the offices of the borough council for much of the 20th century,^[10] but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Dwyfor District Council was formed in 1974.^[11] After an extensive programme of refurbishment works had been completed, the building re-opened as Neuadd Dwyfor in 1995. A new public library area in the building was opened by the playwright, W. S. Jones, in 1996 and a further programme of refurbishment works costing £900,000 was completed in March 2022.^[9][12][13]