An imposing Town Hall has stood in the heart of London’s vibrant East End since Edwardian times: grand, but with a refined elegance that lasts the centuries. Times changed. Although its halls, marble staircases and beautifully modelled art-deco rooms appeared in films, the Town Hall itself was no longer in daily use. Its story seemed finished.

But where dust was settling, craftsmen have been repairing fine plasterwork, polishing marble and wood panels. Architects created a gleaming roof-annexe and metal veil, flooding the rooms with dappled light.