Airdie Town Hall, also known as the Sir John Wilson Town Hall, is an events venue in Stirling Street, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

In the early 20th century, the administrative centre of the town was the old town house in Bank Street which had been completed in 1826. However, civic leaders needed a public hall in which to hold concerts and other public events and the businessman and former

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Falkirk Burghs, Sir John Wilson, 1st Baronet offered to contribute £10,000 towards the cost of construction. The site they selected on the south side of Stirling Street had previously been occupied by a row of commercial properties. The new building was designed by John Thomson in the neoclassical style, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone and completed in 1912. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Stirling Street; the central section of five bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

supporting a segmentally arched pediment with the burgh

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

in the tympanum; on either side of the doorway were

oculi An oculus (; ) is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an '' œil-de-boeuf'' from the French, or simply a "bull's-e ...

with garland surrounds. There was a

Distyle in antis In classical architecture, distyle in antis denotes a temple with the side walls extending to the front of the porch and terminating with two antae, the pediment being supported by two pilasters or sometimes caryatids. This is the earliest type of ...

in the central three bays on the first floor with

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns and pilasters supporting a large

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

; there was a

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

with the burgh coat of arms in the pediment in the central bay and sash windows with open pediments on either side of the Distyle in antis. Performers at the town hall have included the

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

, The Spencer Davis Group, in January 1966 and the rock band, The Proclaimers, in June 2007. The town hall also hosted the annual

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

festival, the

Royal National Mòd The Royal National Mòd ( gd, Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail) is an Eisteddfod-inspired international Celtic festival focusing upon Scottish Gaelic literature, traditional music, and culture which is held annually in Scotland. It is the largest ...

, in 1993. Events also included concerts and theatrical performances arranged by the Airdrie and Coatbridge Amateur Operatic Society which had been performing in the building since it opened. By the early 20th century surveys indicated that the extensive use of the building, which was exceeding 200 functions a year, had caused significant deterioration to its fabric of the building to the extent that it was no longer wind or watertight. After an extensive programme of refurbishment works, which was financed in part by the Heritage Lottery Fund and carried out by Graham Construction to a design by Austin-Smith:Lord at a cost of £3.5 million, the building re-opened as arts and community events venue in 2012. The refurbishment included improvements to the two principal rooms, the large theatre hall which is used concerts and conferences as well as for weddings and civil partnership ceremonies, and the upper lesser hall which is used for smaller events.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1912 Airdrie Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Category B listed buildings in North Lanarkshire

History

See also

References