Alloa Town Hall

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Alloa Town Hall
Alloa Town Hall LB20976.jpg
Alloa Town Hall
LocationMarshill, Alloa
Coordinates 56°06′59″N3°47′43″W / 56.1165°N 3.7953°W / 56.1165; -3.7953
Built1889
Architect Alfred Waterhouse
Architectural style(s) Renaissance style
Listed Building – Category C(S)
Official nameTown Hall, Marshill
Designated12 June 1972
Reference no.LB20976
Clackmannanshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Clackmannanshire

Alloa Town Hall is a municipal building in Marshill, Alloa, Scotland. The structure, which was the meeting place of Alloa Burgh Council, is a Category C listed building. [1]

Contents

History

Until the late 19th century Alloa lacked a public hall capable of accommodating a large number of people, [2] so when a director of John Paton Son and Co., John Thomson Paton, offered to pay for a town hall as a gift to the town, [3] burgh leaders agreed to accept the offer: the site they selected was occupied by some large private houses. [4]

The new building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in the Renaissance style, built by G. & R. Cousin in ashlar stone at a cost of £18,008 and completed in 1889. [1] [5] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Marshill; the central section of three bays, which projected forward, featured a round headed doorway on the ground floor, mullioned windows on the first floor, mullioned windows flanked by Ionic order pilasters on the second floor and mullioned windows on the third floor with a gable above. [1] There was a hall block behind the front block with an octagonal chimney at the north end. [1] Internally, the front block contained the council chamber on the first floor and an art school on the upper floors, while the hall block contained an assembly hall which accommodated a public library as well as an organ designed and made by Forster and Andrews. [6] [7] [8]

The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Alloa Burgh Council throughout the first half of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the council moved to Greenfield House at Mar Place in 1952. [9] [10] The building continued to be used as an events venue and the rock band, the Silver Beetles, performed at the town hall during a tour of Scotland as the backing group for the pop singer Johnny Gentle in May 1960. [11] [12] [13] However, the organ was removed from the building and destroyed in January 1970. [6] Queen Elizabeth II met civic officials at the town hall during a visit to the town to re-open the refurbished Alloa Tower in July 1997. [14] A major programme of refurbishment works at the town hall, including redecoration and the upgrading of the heating system, was completed in summer 2011. [15] A plaque to commemorate the visit of the Silver Beetles was installed on the front of the building and unveiled in March 2022. [16]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Historic Environment Scotland. "Town Hall, Marshill (LB20976)" . Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  2. ↑ Lothian, James (1861). Alloa and its Environs. J. Lothian. p. 20.
  3. ↑ "Alloa, Clackmannanshire". Gazetteer of Scotland. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1865. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "Alloa Town Hall and Library, Marshill". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Records of Forster and Andrews, 1844-1987, organ builders" (PDF). Hull History Centre. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  7. ↑ Bragg, Chris (22 December 2016). "Border Controls". Rhinegold Publishing. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  8. ↑ "Alloa". Hull Daily Mail. 31 July 1888. Retrieved 24 July 2021. Messrs Forster and Andrews have succeeded in obtaining the order for a large new organ for the Town Hill of Alloa, Scotland.
  9. ↑ "A Walk in the Past: The 1914 inferno at Greenfield House". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  10. ↑ "Greenfield House: Concerns over safety at abandoned Alloa property". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  11. ↑ "Live: Town Hall, Alloa, Scotland". Beatles Bible. 20 May 1960. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  12. ↑ "Beatlemania begins: the Alloa gig that introduced the world to The Beatles". Herald Scotland. 29 March 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  13. ↑ "Sir Paul McCartney remembers The Beatles' first gig north of the border". The Sunday Post. 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "Alloa Tower". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "Town Hall's Splendour Restored" (PDF). Clackmannanshire Council. 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  16. ↑ "Beatles plaque unveiled at Alloa Town Hall". Alloa Advertiser. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
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