Description of Historic Place

The former Acton Town Hall is located at 19 Willow Street North in Acton, at Mill Street East and Willow Street North, in the Municipality of Halton Hills. The two storey brick building was constructed in 1882-1883 in the Italianate style.

The property is protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement and was designated in 1989 by the former Town of Acton under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 1989-0012).

Heritage Value

Located at Acton's historic downtown, the former Town Hall is a community landmark and represents the town's urban development in the 19th century. Many smaller towns built civic halls to serve a variety of community functions, a contrast to the monumental and primarily administrative municipal halls of cities and large towns. The town hall often served as a government, administrative, public welfare and social centre and many were an architectural statement of the community's aspirations and achievements. Incorporated as the Village of Acton in 1873, it was home to extensive lumber milling and leather tanning industries during the nineteenth century. Plans to build a town hall began in 1881 and a design competition was held with Eli Synder of Acton being awarded the prize, but not the commission. The building committee approached Mr. Mallory of the Toronto firm of architects of James, Mallory and Mallory to advise them on the submitted design. Mallory prepared more suitable architectural plans. The building contained a jail, council chamber, public hall, engine room and wood storage. Built by contractor W. A. McCulla, construction began in 1882 and the Town Hall was completed in May 1883. In 1967, a fire hall, which is not included in the easement, was added along the east façade of the building. In 1974, Acton was amalgamated with the Town of Georgetown and most of the Township of Equesing to form the Town of Halton Hills and Acton's Town Hall ceased its civic functions. The building's exterior, aesthetic and scenic character and the property are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement.

The former Acton Town Hall is significant as an example of a late nineteenth century municipal hall in a small Ontario community. It was designed in the Italianate style and is a symmetrical six-by-three bay, deep structure, with a low pitched, truncated hip roof. The building features a prominent cornice decorated with shaped wood brackets. It is constructed from red brick in stretcher bond with moulded brown brick courses on a coursed limestone plinth. The west (front) elevation consists of a projecting central bay with a broken pediment gable, featuring a main entrance with an arched transom above double doors, stone steps and a balustrade. A segmented brick architrave with a keystone, voussoirs and abutments frames a recessed doorway with brick jambs. Brick pilasters surrounding the entrance extend upwards to form a false balcony of wood with two wood corbels on the upper storey. A broken pediment with brackets tops the front gabled projection and a bull's eye attic window sits above two Palladian windows. The windows have stone lug sills and round arches accented with a keystone containing a carved design and abutments. The four second storey windows surrounding the projection are in the same style. The four ground storey windows have a thick segmented arch, also decorated with carved keystones, and abutments on a stone lug sill. The bays in the north and south elevation are divided by two chimney breasts on each façade as the hall originally had four brick chimneys, one of which remains. Blind dormers replace the three missing chimneys. The six windows on each elevation are divided into the two storeys and follow the same design as the front façade. A bell tower surmounts the building's roof, directly above the front entrance. Originally ending in a shingled spire with a flat top, the current structure retains only its belfry. The woodwork of the belfry displays bell-shaped patterns.

Source: OHT Easement Files.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the Acton Town Hall include its:
- features that contribute to the Italianate architectural style
- symmetrical six-by-three bays
- deep rectangular structure
- low pitched, truncated hip roof
- coursed limestone plinth
- red brick construction in stretcher bond
- moulded brown brick courses
- pronounced cornice treatment utilizing shaped wood brackets
- ground storey windows with stone lug sills, large segmented brick arches with keystones and abutments
- second story Palladian windows with stone lug sills, round brick arches, decorative keystones and abutments
- central bay projection with broken pediment gable, stone steps and balustrade
- segmented brick architrave with voussoir with a keystone and brick jambs
- brick pilasters surrounding doorway extend upward into a false wooden balcony on the second storey supported by two wooden corbels
- bull's eye window with brick reinforcements above two windows on the projection's second storey
- four chimney breasts that divide the north and south elevations, one of which terminates into a chimney and the rest into blind dormers
- belfry with bell-shaped woodwork surmounts the central roof
- location in the historic core of Acton
- landmark status