Old Council Offices, Camborne

The Old Council Offices are in Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, England. The building, which was used as the offices of Camborne-Redruth Urban District Council and is currently vacant, is a grade II listed building.

History
Following significant population growth, largely associated with the tin mining industry, a local board was established in Camborne in 1873. The local board, which usually met in the parish vestry room in Church Street, was replaced by the Camborne Urban District Council in 1894. In the early 20th century, the council decided to commission dedicated council offices. The site they selected on Trevenson Street had, in part, been occupied by an old smithy.

The new building was designed in the Renaissance Revival style, built in rubble masonry with ashlar dressings and was completed in 1903. The original design involved a broadly symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Trevenson Street. The central bay, which was slightly projected forward, featured a doorway flanked by Ionic order columns of polished granite supporting an open pediment; on the first floor, there was cross-window surmounted by a moulded gable which contained an oeil-de-boeuf and was flanked by chimney stacks. The other bays were mainly fenestrated with cross windows. The first and fifth bays were also slightly projected forward and were also surmounted by moulded gables. The structure was extended to the right by three extra bays in a similar style to create a fire station in 1909.

The building continued to serve as the council offices for the district council until the enlarged Camborne-Redruth Urban District Council was formed at Veor House in South Terrace in Redruth in 1934. The fire service continued to use the building as a fire station until a modern fire station was erected in College Street in 1963. The building in Trevenson Street was subsequently used as a religious centre in the 1980s, and as an office for the local Conservative Association in the 2010s.

An extensive programme of works to restore the exterior of the building was carried out with grant aid from the Camborne, Roskear and Tuckingmill Townscape Heritage Initiative in the early 21st century.