Ardrossan Civic Centre

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Ardrossan Civic Centre
Listed Building, Glasgow Street (geograph 4909150).jpg
Ardrossan Civic Centre
LocationGlasgow Street, Ardrossan
Coordinates 55°38′35″N4°48′41″W / 55.6431°N 4.8115°W / 55.6431; -4.8115
Built1851
ArchitectPeter Nicholson
Architectural style(s) Gothic Revival style
Listed Building – Category B
Official nameTown Hall, Glasgow Street, Ardrossan
Designated14 April 1971
Reference no.LB21267
North Ayrshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in North Ayrshire

Ardrossan Civic Centre is a municipal building in Glasgow Street, Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The building, which is largely used as a community events venue, is a Category B listed building. [1]

Contents

History

The building was commissioned by a new inhabitant to the town from the north of Scotland, Duncan Graham, as a private house, in the mid-19th century. It was designed by Peter Nicholson in the Gothic Revival style, built in pink rubble masonry with stone dressings and completed in 1851. [2] [3] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Glasgow Street with the outer bays bowed and battlemented; the central bay featured a doorway with a pointed stone surround which was flanked by lancet windows; there were two round headed windows on the first floor and the outer bays featured mullioned windows on both floors. [1] The building, which was originally known as Graham's Castle, was acquired by a colliery owner, Archibald Russell, in 1893. [2] In 1920, the Ardrossan Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company acquired the building for £10,000, refurbished it, and operated it as the Castlecraigs Recreation Club. [2] [4]

The Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston Branch of the Royal British Legion was formed at the Castlecraigs Recreation Club on 10 April 1924. [5] The main hall had a fine sprung floor which enabled Castlecraigs Recreation Club to host dances. [6] The Ardrossan Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company sold the building to the local masonic lodge in 1927. [2]

After being requisitioned and serving as naval barracks during the Second World War, it was acquired by Ardrossan Burgh Council, in an exchange of properties involving the Old Town Hall, in August 1946. [7] It operated as the meeting place of the local burgh council for another three decades, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Cunninghame District Council was formed in Irvine in 1975. [8] It was extended to the south west to a design by Robert Rennie & Watson to create an enlarged complex known as the "Ardrossan Civic Centre" in 1978. [9] [10]

In November 2016, a large audience attended a meeting in the civic centre to provide support to a campaign led by North Ayrshire Council, which was ultimately successful, to ensure that the drive-through ferry MV Isle of Arran continued to operate the route from Ardrossan to Brodick on the Isle of Arran, thereby abandoning proposals to change the port of departure from Ardrossan to Troon. [11] A programme of refurbishment works, which included replacement of the windows, was completed in spring 2018. [12]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Town Hall, Glasgow Street, Ardrossan (LB21267)" . Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Ardrossan Historical Timeline". Ardrossan Roots. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  3. ↑ "Ardossan Trail" (PDF). Heritage Trails. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  4. ↑ Shipbuilder: The Journal of the Shipbuilding, Marine Engineering and Allied Industries. Vol. 24. Shipbuilder Press. 1921. p. 255. Ardrossan Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. have purchased and equipped as a recreation club for their staff and workers the mansion house of Castlecraigs, near Ardrossan, at a cost of £10,000.
  5. ↑ "100th birthday look back at the history of the local Legion". Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald. 13 April 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  6. ↑ Levy, Catriona (1984). Ardrossan Shipyards Struggle for Survival, 1825–1983. Workers' Educational Association. p. 14. Castlecraigs, now the Civic Centre in Ardrossan...Fond memories are held of its specially sprung dance floor!
  7. ↑ "About us". Lodge St John Royal Arch Saltcoats and Ardrossan No. 320. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  8. ↑ "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  9. ↑ "Ardrossan Civic Centre" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  10. ↑ O'Connor, Susan (1 June 2016). "Architecture, power and ritual in Scottish town halls, 1833–1973" (PDF). University of Bath. p. 128. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  11. ↑ "Residents turned out in force at a meeting in the Ardrossan Civic Centre to demonstrate their determination to keep the Arran ferry". Herald Scotland. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  12. ↑ "£50k for brand new windows for Ardrossan Civic Centre". Ardrossan Herald. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
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