Caxton Hall
Coordinates: 51°29′55″N 0°8′6.5″W / 51.49861°N 0.135139°W
Caxton Hall is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily noted for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and artistic events and after the Second World War was the most popular register office used by high society and celebrities who required a civil marriage.
It was designed in 1878 by William Lee and F.J. Smith in an ornate Francois I style using red brick and pink sandstone, with slate roofs. It won the competition for a hall design set by the parishes of St Margaret and St John; and was originally called the Westminster City Hall. A central entrance porch and canopy were added in the mid-20th century, now removed.
It was opened as Westminster Town Hall in 1883 and contained two public halls known as the Great & York Halls. They were used for a variety of purposes including musical concerts and as a venue for public meetings.
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), part of the British Suffragette movement held a ‘Women's Parliament’ at Caxton Hall at the beginning of each parliamentary session from 1907, with a subsequent procession to the Houses of Parliament and an attempt (always unsuccessful) to deliver a petition to the prime minister in person. Caxton Hall's central role in the militant suffrage movement is now commemorated by a bronzed scroll sculpture that stands nearby in Christchurch Gardens open space.
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