Petersham Town Hall

Phone: 02 9335 2222
Website: http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au

Last updated Friday, 26 Nov 2010.

Opened in July 1938, Petersham Town Hall is located on the corner of Crystal and Frederick Streets in Petersham. It is situated opposite Marrickville Council's administration building. The art deco style town hall features a prominent hexagonal clock tower and it is the second town hall to have been built on the same site. Petersham was a separate Council from 1871 until an amalgamation with Marrickville and St Peters in 1949. Petersham's first town hall was erected in 1882 and demolished in 1937 following a series of hotly contested debates. The newly amalgamated Marrickville Council decided to centralise operations at Petersham from 1949 partially due to the relative newness and greater size afforded by Petersham Town Hall at the time.

The Story of Petersham, published in 1948, boasted that Petersham Town Hall's main auditorium featured a specially constructed dance floor with polished maple on the lower panels of the walls. It was also the first metropolitan town hall in Australia to install a public address system. Like Marrickville Town Hall, Petersham had a brush with fame when some of the flamboyant dancing scenes from director Baz Lurhmann's 1992 film Strictly Ballroom were filmed in its main auditorium. With the construction of the administration building in 1974, Marrickville Council relocated most of its indoor operations across the road. However, a History & Archival Reference Centre now exists in the former Council Chambers on the first floor of the Town Hall.

Additional purpose: The main Hall of the building is hired out throughout the year to community organisations

Category: Community Hall