Barrhead Burgh Hall, also known as Barrhead Burgh Court Hall and Burgh Chambers and as the James McGuire Building, is a municipal complex in Main Street,
Barrhead
Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268.
History
Barrhead was formed when ...
,
East Renfrewshire
East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of ...
, Scotland. The complex was the headquarters of Barrhead Burgh Council. It consists of two distinct buildings separated by an iron gate: Barrhead Burgh Court Hall, which is a Category C
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 ...
, and, Barrhead Burgh Chambers, which is also a Category C listed building, although, as a group, they are listed at Category B.
History
After significant population growth, largely associated with the manufacturing industries, Barrhead became a
police burgh
A police burgh was a Scottish burgh which had adopted a "police system" for governing the town. They existed from 1833 to 1975.
The 1833 act
The first police burghs were created under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 (3 & 4 Wm IV c.46). This ...
in 1894. In this context, the new civic leaders decided to procure municipal offices for the burgh: the site they selected in Main Street was owned by Zechariah John Heys who chose to donate it to the town. Heys was the town's second provost and the owner of the South Arthurlie Printworks.
Work started on the new complex in 1902. It was designed by
Ninian MacWhannell
Ninian MacWhannell (15 October 1860 – 23 December 1939) was a Scottish architect, author, and footballer.
Born in Hutchesontown, MacWhannell attended Glasgow High School and Glasgow School of Art before becoming an architect.
He played footb ...
and John Rogerson 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
rubble masonry
Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...
by the local contracting firm, Houston and Young, and was officially opened on 15 April 1904.
The design of the burgh court hall involved an asymmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Main Street; the left hand bay featured an
oriel window
An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...
with a
stepped gable
A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a ...
above, while the right hand bay featured a circular tower with 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 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 ...
on the ground floor: there was a rectangular
balcony
A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor.
Types
The traditional Maltese balcony is ...
with a window in the next stage and a semi-circular balcony with a window flanked by clock faces in the final stage. The tower was surmounted by a conical roof. Internally the principal room in the building was the courtroom.
The design of the burgh chambers involved an asymmetrical main frontage with two bays facing onto Main Street; on the ground floor there was a central doorway flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature and a carved
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 ...
. The right hand bay featured a
Diocletian window
Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths (''thermae'') of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more m ...
on the first floor and both bays had stepped gables. Internally, the principal rooms in the building were the council chamber and the burgh treasurer's office.
The area was advanced to the status of small burgh with the burgh hall as its headquarters in 1930. The complex continued to serve as the headquarters of the burgh council for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged
Renfrew District Council
Renfrew District ( gd, Sgìre Rinn Friù) was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland, which existed between 1975 and 1996.provost of Barrhead and the owner of a local butchers' business. The complex then served as a work and employability centre until the centre moved to the Barrhead Foundry in January 2015. After remaining vacant for some five years, it was brought back into use as a community hub again in March 2020.