| Municipal Buildings | |
|---|---|
Municipal Buildings, viewed from Tay Street in 2024 | |
| Location | Perth |
| Coordinates | 56°23′50″N3°25′35″W / 56.3971°N 3.4263°W |
| Built | 1881 |
| Architect | Andrew Heiton and Andrew Granger Heiton |
| Architectural style(s) | Gothic Revival style |
Listed Building – Category B | |
| Designated | 26 August 1977 |
| Reference no. | LB39320 |
  Shown in Perth | |
The Municipal Buildings are a municipal facility at Nos. 1, 3 and 5 High Street, Perth, Scotland. The facility is a Category B listed building. [1]
The building stands on the site formerly occupied by the Old Chapel of Our Lady. [2] The facility replaced the old city chambers, which had been completed at the east end of the High Street, close to the River Tay, in 1696. [3] [4] After the old city chambers became very dilapidated, civic leaders decided to procure new municipal buildings on the site. [4] The building was adjoined to the north in 1887 by Perth Middle Church, which filled the remainder of the block to George Inn Lane. [5]
The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the Earl of Kinnoull with full masonic honours in 1878. [4] [6] The building was designed by Andrew Heiton and Andrew Granger Heiton in the Gothic Revival style and completed in 1881. [7] [8] [9] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with six bays facing High Street; the central section featured a gabled doorway on the ground floor; there was a tall window on the first floor with coat of arms and a turret above; there was also a slim tower at the south east corner of the building which was based on the design of the tower of the chapel at St Mary's Monastery, Kinnoull, which had also been designed by Andrew Heiton. [3] [10] The municipal buildings were badly damaged in a fire on 23 January 1895 and, although the fire-proof record room survived, [11] much of the structure had to be rebuilt in a programme of works which was completed in 1896. [1] The building contains five stained-glass windows: three depict scenes from Sir Walter Scott's 1828 novel The Fair Maid of Perth , one is of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort, and the other is a representation of Robert the Bruce storming Perth's defensive walls in 1312. The first four were gifts of lord provosts of Perth, while the other was a gift of Sir Robert Pullar and James Pullar, in memory of their father, lord provost John Pullar. [12]
A stone engraving above the southernmost door on the Tay Street elevation reads: "This House Loves Peace • Hates Knaves • Crimes Punisheth • Preserves The Laws And Good Men Honoureth". [13]
The municipal buildings served as the headquarters of Perth Royal Burgh Council, until the council was replaced by Perth and Kinross District Council under the wider Tayside Regional Council in May 1975. [14] The buildings then remained the headquarters of Perth and Kinross District Council until the council moved across the road to new facilities in the former head office of General Accident at 2 High Street in 1984. [15] Staff also moved from the County Offices in York Place. [16]
The northern part of the building, which faced Tay Street, was developed for residential use in the late 1980s but the remainder of the property continued to be used by the council for administrative purposes until 2011. [17] In March 2020 the Council started a consultation on converting that part of the property that had been used for administrative purposes and which has been vacant since 2011, into a boutique hotel. [18]
Perth is a centrally located Scottish city, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and is the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population of about 47,430 in 2018.
Kinnoull Hill is a hill located partly in Perth and partly in Kinfauns, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It shares its name with the nearby Kinnoull parish.
Perth Bridge is a toll-free bridge in the city of Perth, Scotland. A Category A listed structure, it spans the River Tay, connecting Perth, on the western side of the river, to Bridgend, on its eastern side, carrying both automotive and pedestrian traffic of West Bridge Street. An earlier bridge was demolished at the same location in 1621, and many unsuccessful attempts were made to replace it. A subscription was started by James VI and several noblemen to help with the construction cost, but the king's death in 1625 suspended the scheme and a series of ferryboats were instead used.
Kinnoull is a parish in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, approximately half a mile northeast of Perth city centre. Beginning at the level of the River Tay, which separates the parish from Perth, Kinnoull's terrain continues to rise as it continues southeast, culminating in Kinnoull Hill, the summit of which is at 728 feet (222 m).
North Inch is a large public park in Perth, Scotland. About 57 hectares in size, it is one of two "Inches" in Perth, the other being the smaller, 31-hectare South Inch, located half a mile across the city. The inches were granted to the city, when it was a royal burgh, by King Robert II in 1374. Both inches were once islands in the River Tay; today, they are connected by Tay Street, part of the A989.
Perth City Hall is a civic building in King Edward Street, Perth, Scotland. Built in 1914, it is a Category B listed building.
J. Pullar and Sons Ltd. was a dyeworks based in Perth, Scotland. It was founded by John Pullar in 1824 in Perth's Little Pomarium district and pioneered the first synthetic dyes. Pullars of Perth signs eventually appeared outside 7,552 agents across Britain.
St Mary's Monastery is an ecumenical Christian spirituality and retreat centre in Kinnoull, Perth, Scotland. It was built in 1868 by the Redemptorists. Until 1971, it also served as a novitiate for the Redemptorists. In 1870, the church and shrine, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, was built within the grounds. It is located on Hatton Road, to the east of Kinnoull, on the edge of Kinnoull Hill, overlooking the city of Perth. The building has been registered as a category B listed building by Historic Environment Scotland, and was the first Roman Catholic monastery established in Scotland since the Reformation.
Bridgend is a village near Perth, Scotland, approximately 0.25 miles (0.40 km) east of the city centre, on the eastern banks of the River Tay. It is in Kinnoull parish. A settlement has existed here since at least the 16th century.
Perth Sheriff Court is an historic building on Tay Street in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The structure, which is used as the main courthouse for the area, is a Category A listed building.
2 High Street is a municipal building in Perth, Scotland. Standing at the corner of High Street and Tay Street, the building is currently the home of offices of Perth and Kinross Council, which also occupies the municipal buildings at 1 Tay Street directly opposite. The building is Category B listed.
26 Tay Street is an historic building in Perth, Scotland. Designed by local architect Andrew Heiton, the building is Category B listed, dating to around 1873. Standing on Tay Street, between St Matthew's Church to the south and the Perth and Kinross Council offices at 2 High Street to the north, the building is currently the home of The Capital Asset, a J D Wetherspoons establishment.
Andrew Heiton was a Scottish architect. He designed several notable buildings in Scotland, mostly railway stations and country houses.
Tay Street is a major thoroughfare, part of the A989, in the Scottish city of Perth, Perth and Kinross. Planned in 1806 and completed around 1885, it is named for the River Tay, Scotland's longest river, on the western banks of which it sits. The street runs from the confluence of West Bridge Street and Charlotte Street in the north to a roundabout at Marshall Place and Shore Road in the south. Three of the city's four bridges that cross the Tay do so in this stretch : Perth Bridge, Queen's Bridge and the single-track Tay Viaduct, carrying Perth and Dundee trains to and from Perth railway station, located 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the north-west.
Kinnoull Parish Church is a Church of Scotland church in the Kinnoull area of Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. A Kinnoull Church appears in documents when it was granted to Cambuskenneth Abbey in 1361. It was rebuilt in 1779 but demolished in 1826 after the completion of a church on the Perth side of the River Tay, which flows a short distance behind the church.
Mill Street is a prominent street in the city of Perth, Scotland. Established in at least the 18th century, it runs for about 0.25 miles (0.40 km), from Bridge Lane in the east South Methven Street in the west, passing through roughly two-thirds of the northern third of the city centre.
Andrew Granger Heiton was a Scottish architect. He was prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Several of his works are now listed structures.
Kinnoull Terrace is a street in the Kinnoull parish of Perth, Scotland. A cul-de-sac, it contains five properties, each of which is of listed status and dating from the 19th century. The street was specifically designed, in the mid-19th century, to take advantage of its viewpoint across the River Tay, as was the case with the six villas in Bridgend, a few hundred yards to the north. Noted architectural historian Charles McKean observed that those with "money of the [19th] century jostled for prime sites and views on Dundee Road and Kinnoull Terrace".
Crieff Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street, Crieff, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The structure, which is currently used as a tourist information centre and museum, is a Category B listed building.
Watergate is a street in the city of Perth, Scotland. Along with Skinnergate, it is one of the oldest streets in the city. It runs for around 0.12 miles (0.19 km) from High Street in the north to South Street in the south. It runs parallel to Tay Street to the east and St John Street to the west. At South Street, the road becomes Speygate, the former site of Gowrie House.
