Former Town Hall

At the tail end of the Progressive Era in America, Southampton erected its most visible symbol of progress, the all-brick and marble, fireproof—“without a stick of timber”—Southampton Town Hall. On June 12, 1925, a crowd of roughly a thousand gathered at dedication ceremonies in front of the curved and pillared facade of the building designed by architect William A. LaFon and built by Duryea and Baird. Music is supplied by the Sag Harbor Band and patriotic songs are sung by Southampton High School students, and Supervisor Benjamin G. Halsey accepted the keys “on behalf of the people of Southampton.” Local dignitaries showered praise on the builders for keeping the project within the budget and to local artisans who designed and built every element of the interior. Here, the town Supervisor, Town Clerk and Town Board have new thoroughly modern offices, along with the large courtroom and vault. The total cost of this handsome building, hailed as the most modern municipal building of its time in Suffolk County, is a modest $67,500, including furnishings. For decades the building, snugly fitted into the corner of Main Street and Hampton Road, remained the center of local government. Town Hall moved to Hampton Road in the 1970s and the building became a commercial property. Among its longest tenants was Saks Fifth Avenue.