Banchory Town Hall is a municipal structure in the High Street,

Banchory Banchory (, sco, Banchry, gd, Beannchar) is a burgh or town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is about west of Aberdeen, near where the Feugh River meets the River Dee. Prehistory and archaeology In 2009, a farmer discovered a short cist ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, Scotland. The structure is primarily used as a community events venue.

History

The foundation stone for the town hall, which was financed by

public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...

, was laid by the Grand Master of the Aberdeen Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons, Robert Beveridge, in January 1873. It was designed by James Thomson in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

, built in brick with a rendered finish and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

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 ...

dressings, and was completed later in 1873. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the High Street; the left-hand section of three bays, which was gabled, featured a central archway with a keystone on the ground floor, a pair of segmental transomed

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

s flanked by square headed transomed casement windows on the first floor, and a single round headed casement window in the gable. The fourth bay from the left featured a porch, formed by a pair of brick pillars supporting an

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 ...

with a small central pediment and

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s, on the ground floor, and a single casement window surmounted by a shaped pediment on the first floor. The right-hand bay was fenestrated by a three-part

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed window on the ground floor and by a two-part mullioned window surmounted by a shaped pediment on the first floor. Internally, the principal room was a large assembly hall designed for concerts and theatrical performances. A social club and a public library were established in the town hall in 1893 and, in April 1900, the town hall showed a silent film about the work of the 5th (Deeside Highland) Volunteer Battalion of the

Gordon Highlanders Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

. A war memorial, designed by William Kelly in the form of an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

surmounted by four columns and a

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

-shaped roof, which was intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, was unveiled in front of the town hall by Colonel James Burnett in August 1923. The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the burgh council for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Kincardine and Deeside District Council was formed in 1975. Kincardine and Deeside District Council transferred ownership of the town hall to Banchory Town Council in the mid-1980s and, following the change of ownership, the main role of the town hall remained that of a community events venue.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1873 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Banchory