Following significant population growth, largely associated with the development of family-based manufacturing firms,[2] the area became an urban district in 1894.[3][4] Civic leaders initially established themselves in offices in Church Street.[5] 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".[6][a]
The works began with the demolition of Kingston House which took place in 1933.[7] The new building was designed by C. Holland Rose and H. R. Gardner in the neoclassical style and built in red brick with stone dressings.[1] At its official opening in May 1935, Viscount Wakefield unveiled a plaque to commemorate John Wesley's historic visit to Kingston House.[8] 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.[1] 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.[1] At roof level there was a copper flèche and a weather vane.[1] 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.[1]
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.[9] However, it ceased to be the local seat of government when the district council moved to modern offices at Dorking in 1983.[10][11]
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.[12] 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.[13]
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