Alfred Waterhouse designed this massive neo-Gothic structure that first opened in 1877, and extensions were added just before World War II. The tower rises nearly 90m (295 ft.) above the town. The Great Hall and its signature hammer-beam roof houses 12 pre-Raphaelite murals by Ford Madox Brown, commissioned between 1852 and 1856. The paintings chronicle the town's storied past, from the 1st-century Roman occupation to the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century.