Talk:City Hall, Penang

Town Hall

The Town Hall refers to a separate, older building just south of the City Hall. It surely deserves an article. Therefore, it is not very appropriate to place the history of the Town Hall in this very article.
Vnonymous 06:38, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

The building now referred to as City Hall building was once upon a time, before 1st January 1957, referred to as the Town Hall building or the new Town Hall building. The building you call the Town Hall building was once referred to as the Old Town Hall building. City Hall or Town Hall refers to the administrative accommodations of a municipal government. If you do not wish to incorporate the earlier history of George Town's municipal accommodations in this entry, then I suggest you rename it from City Hall, Penang to City Hall Building, Penang (formerly referred to as the George Town Town Hall building 1903 to present). Otherwise the entry's name is grammatically incorrect. jefferyseow (talk) ]]

@Jefferyseow: Firstly, the building now known as the City Hall was never referred to as the Town Hall. Prior to George Town's grant of city status in 1957, it was named the 'Municipal Offices'.. On the other hand, the Town Hall next door has always been named as such ever since the very first proposals for its construction were considered by the colonial authorities, as per the sources you quote.

Secondly, the name 'City Hall' is grammatically correct. It is simply unnecessary to add the word 'building' at the back, as the term 'City Hall' already denotes a building in itself. Please also consider that the Wikipedia articles on all other City Halls, for example here, here and here, do not have the word 'building' behind the term 'City Hall' in each one of them.

Vnonymous 00:03, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Just one example from 1937. Plenty more where this came from: Sunday Tribune (Singapore), 5 September 1937, Page 3 http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/sundaytribune19370905-1.2.29?ST=1&AT This is my last word on the subject. You can do your own searches using contemoraneous sources if you like. Anyway, I am abandoning this attempt at setting things right. jefferyseow (talk)

@Jefferyseow: According to that particular source,

"At a recent meeting of Committee No. V of the Commissioners, the President, Mr. J.A. Black, explained that alterations to the ground floor of the Town Hall had been approved by the Commissioners in April last, but the proposed alterations on the first floor to accommodate the Electric Supply Department staff, at present housed in the Municipal offices, were not then approved".

Thus, as you can see, while the older Town Hall has always been referred to as the Town Hall, the building now known as the City Hall was previously known as the Municipal Offices. The issue of whether or not the newer building had also been referred to as the Town Hall is a moot point; the older building has certainly been named the Town Hall from the very beginning.

Vnonymous 23:11, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

References