Naas Town Hall

Naas Town Hall, at the heart of a bustling market town in the early 20th Century.

Naas Town Hall

By Paddy Behan

The Town Hall was originally built as a Jail in 1796 by the old Naas Corporation. That was abolished in 1840. The jail building lay empty and was acquired by their successors, the Naas Town Commission in 1854 as their new Municipal building. In 1900 the new Urban District Council took over the running of the town. In 1904 they renovated the Town Hall, and gave it the new facade including the twin-faced clock, that we know to this present day.

Naas Town Hall with its façade clearly retaining the appearance of a prison. This image was captured before the 1903-4 refurbishment by John Eacret. The work carried out by Eacret extended the walls out from the central recess to create a central three-sided projecting bay. The two pre-existing side wings had new window openings inserted on each level and decorative rendering was applied to the whole façade to tie the new and the old together in a coherent fashion. Eacret left a dated inscription just to the right of the main entrance on the new projecting bay. In addition, the date ‘AD 1904’ is inscribed on the curved pediment above the two-faced clock (see the first image above).