Mapo Hall

Mapo Hall is the colonial-style Ibadan City Hall on top of Mapo Hill in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Mapo Hall was commissioned during the colonial era by Captain Ross in 1929. It was designed and constructed by Engineer Robert Jones. Robert A. Jones (1882–1949), also known as "Taffy", was a Welsh man who worked in southern Nigeria between 1910 and 1944. He was a member of Ibadan Native Authority in 1923 as a road engineer, where he remained until his retirement to Wales. He is also ascribed as being the engineer who built the Manor House in Iseyin. The cost of construction was reported as £24,000, and construction took four years between 1925 and 1929. The foundation stone was laid in June 1925 by Captain W. A. Ross (The Resident, Oyo Province) and it was completed and declared open by Sir Graeme Thomson during the traditional leadership of Oba Shiyanbola Ladugbolu, the Alaafin of Oyo and Oyewole, the Baale of Ibadan. The Neoclassical architecture of the hall is a constant reminder of early British influence in the administration of Ibadan as part of the Oyo Province. The hall serves as an important landmark that could be seen from most part of the city, especially from the other six hills between which the city spreads out. Labour was provided by the natives, probably by the prisoners held here as tax defaulters and other slaves. It was renovated in 2006 amid some controversy

Town hall data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).