The hall was built in 1875 for Holborn Borough Council. It was purchased in 1908 by William P. Hartley for use as the PM Connexional headquarters and was conveyed to the Bourne Trust in 1912 for £56,000. Hartley contributed to its initial purchase and added a further £10,000 on the occasion of his golden wedding in 1916. The PM Centenary Fund contributed £7,500. Extensive alterations ot the building included two additional storeys with commodious offices and a five-floor block on the Clerkenwell side for the Book Room, which moved there in 1910. Books were then increasingly published under the 'Holborn Publishing House' imprint, rather than the name of the individual Book Steward, and continued so until Methodist Union. The Conference of 1938 authorized the sale of the building, the proceeds going to the Ex-PM Auxiliary Fund.

Entry written by: DCD
Category: Place
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