in 1934 the palace was 85 years old and for about 70 years it had functioned as a school. the building was totally decrepit and had to get renovated and altered. in 1931, when the building was still used as a school, the city council already considered using the palace as the new city hall. , an architect from nijmegen, was commissioned by tilburg city council to alter the decrepit school into a representative palace-council house. leeuw tried to restore the original character of the building. he brought back the long lost merlons and made the building more gothic than it ever was by replacing the square windows with lancet windows. the thin and slender towers near the entrance with the pinnacles on top were replaced by a middle risalit, with an entrance made in art deco style. on 1 august 1936 mayor reopened the reconstructed "palace-city hall".