Parramatta Town Hall

Parramatta Town Hall

The Parramatta Town Hall was designed by G.A Mansfield and built in 1881 by Hart and Lavors. One of the most ornate rooms in the Town Hall is the Charles Byrnes room, which is located on the first floor, and was named after the Mayor of Parramatta at the time.

In the 1960s a suspended aluminium panelled ceiling was fitted to provide a more modern appearance.

In 1999 the tiled ceiling was damaged by water penetration, which made it necessary for it to be removed.

The centre of the ceiling had been replaced sometime in the 1950s with fibrous plaster. It was then decided that the fibrous ceiling be removed.

After removing part of the fibrous ceiling, the original ceiling was found to still be in reasonable condition, with hand painted decorations.

The original cornice was found intact except for the water damaged section which had collapsed. This changed the whole scope of the works.

Now the original ceiling was to be conserved by wiring up the cornices and reinstating the plaster keys with acrylic resins. The timber battens were left in place to support the plasterwork while it was being stabilized.

The missing original plasterwork was replaced with a new centre using light weight plasters on an expanded metal lath background.