Heidelberg Town Hall

Building in Ivanhoe, Australia

37°45′56″S 145°02′44″E / 37.765571°S 145.045474°E / -37.765571; 145.045474Completed1937Design and constructionArchitect(s)Peck & Kemter

Heidelberg Town Hall is a civic building located on Upper Heidelberg Road in Ivanhoe, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is now more commonly known as The Centre Ivanhoe.

Opened in April 1937,^[1] the building was designed by architectural firm Peck & Kemter in association with A.C. Leith & Bartlett for the Heidelberg City Council (now Banyule City Council) and was influenced by the Hilversum Town Hall in the Netherlands. It listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, described as "the greatest and most eloquent expression of the interwar brick Moderne style in Victoria."^[2] The architects were awarded the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects (RVIA) Street Architecture Medal for 1939 for the building.^[3]

The ’Berg

Not long after the town hall opened the council engaged Bill Glennon to organise public dances on Wednesday and Saturday nights.^[4] An 18-piece dance band played in the Great Hall, two smaller downstairs rooms– the Streeton and Condor rooms has separate dances each featuring different music styles. The Streeton room featured ‘old-time’ music and the Condor Room, Jazz.

Free buses brought patrons from Melbourne’s Northern suburbs.^[4] The dances were hugely popular, over 2000 people would attend on a Saturday night. Many locals recount meeting their spouses at the ’Berg.

The dances continued until the 1970’s.

References

^ "OPENING OF HEIDELBERG TOWN. HALL". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 30 April 1937. p. 3. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
^ "Heidelberg Town Hall, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H2077, Heritage Overlay HO77". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria.
^ "Medal Award For Street Architecture". Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954). 17 July 1940. p. 11. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b Grow, Robin (2007). "'The berg': The place to be!". Spirit of Progress. 8 (4): 14–16.