Basic Site Details Name: | Rutherglen Town Hall | Town, district or village: | Rutherglen | City or county: | Lanarkshire | Country: | Scotland | Parish: | | Status: | | Grid ref: | | Notes: | The buildings of the new Town Hall are in the main street, immediately to the east of the parish churchyard. They have a frontage of 61 feet to the street, and a depth of 79 feet 6 inches. The ground floor is occupied by a spacious entrance-hall and a lofty staircase, which conduct to the Town Hall on the upper floor, and to a court hall in the rear of the buildings, the front portion of the ground floor being arranged for two double shops. In the treatment of these shop-fronts the architect has endeavoured to overcome the injurious effect which so often attends the introduction of shops into a public building. The public hall measures 75 feet by 40 feet inside: it extends over the shops and lower hall, and is lighted on the west side by five large four-light mullioned and transomed windows, and on the south by a large oriel of six lights. The ceiling of this hall is composed wholly of dressed timbers, stained and varnished. It is semicircular in section, divided into compartments by arched, coupled beams, springing from impost shafts, with foliated capitals, attached to the side walls and arranged in couples under the arched beams. The exterior of the building is in the Scottish baronial style, quaintly varied and ornamental in its details. The shop windows have round, arched heads, with string mouldings encircling them, and indicating the division of the floors. The centre of the front is occupied by the large oriel, which seems almost to fill the end of the hall. It is projected on elaborate corbelling from between the arches of the ground floor, and is panelled and ornamented with escutcheons and armorial devices. The angles of the building are crowned with bartisan turrets, with high peaked conical roofs. A high pitched gable occupies the centre of the front over the oriel, in the centre of which is a panel carved with the armorial bearings of the burgh, and on either haunch of this gable a carved lion and unicorn is placed, the apex being finished with a pile of armour, bearing the Scottish crown. The other panels in the front are carved with the armorial bearings of England and Scotland, and with ornamental devices displaying the charters of the burgh, granted by David I, 1136 ; William I, 1180 ; Robert I, 1324, and James V, 1542. The entrance door is at the east side of the front, under the tower, and forms a prominent feature of the elevation, from its size, the character of its arch and iamb mouldings, and its position under the plain solid mass of the tower. The height of the building from pavement to apex of centre gable is 72 feet, the entire height of the tower is 110 feet. The tower is very plain in the lower portion, above the doorway, but becomes broken in outline at the top ; the angles are terminated with bartisan turrets with domed roofs, the walls between being terminated in crow-stepped gables, with clock dial-plates in each side. The dials of the clock, we believe, are so designed that the hands and figures will appear white at night on a dark dial, and the reverse during the day, Mr Muirhead, of Glasgow, is tbe maker. The contractors are: for the mason work, Mr Lawrie; for the carpenter work, Mr Lindsay; for the plumber work , Mr Lockhast; for slater work, Mr Morrison; and, for the plaster work, Mr Gilately. Mr. Robert Balfour is the clerk of the works. The works are being carried out from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr. Charles Wilson, of Glasgow. [Building News 10 January 1862 p22]
Interior subsequently gutted. | Alternative NamesThe following alternative names are associated with this building/design: | | Name | Current name? | Notes | | Glasgow District Council Offices | Yes | |
Building Type ClassificationThe building is classified under the following categories: | | Classification | Original classification? | Notes | | Town hall | | |
Street AddressesThe following street addresses are associated with this building: | | Address | Main entrance? | Notes | | 131, 139, Main Street | Yes | |
EventsThe following date-based events are associated with this building: | | From | To | Event type | Notes | | | 2004 | Restoration | | | 1861 | 1862 | | Original building | | 1876 | 1877 | | Addition of municipal offices | | 1909 | | | Competition held for extension of Charles Wilson building | | Before 1947 | | Proposed | Scheme for restoration - or proposal for new building? | | 1967 | | Alteration/conversion | Interior gutted during conversion to offices. |
PeopleDesign and Construction
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this building: | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | RIBA | 1970 | RIBA Directory 1970 | | | | | Sinclair, Fiona J, ed | 1995 | Charles Wilson Architect 1810-1863: A Question of Style | | Glasgow: Park Circus Promotions, 1995 | p24 | | Thomson, David | 1882 | Memoir of Charles Wilson | 13 March 1882 | Proceedings of the Glasgow Philosophical Society | | | Williamson, Riches, Higgs | 1990 | Glasgow (The Buildings of Scotland) | | | p494 | | Wilson, Charles | | Proceedings of the Glasgow Philosophical Society | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this building: | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | British Architect | 13 April 1877 | | | | | British Architect | 1 October 1909 | | | | | Building News | 10 January 1862 | | | p22 |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this building: | | Source | Archive name | Source catalogue no. | Notes | | Historic Environment Scotland | Listed Buildings Register | 33564 | | | Information courtesy of Hamish Clark, partner, Honeyman Jack & Robertson | Information sent to website | | Sent 2008 | | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | George F Shanks: F no4239 (Combined Box 3) |
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