Caird Hall is a concert auditorium located in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Scotland. It is a Category A listed building.

History

The site currently occupied by the building was occupied by a series of closes and tenements. The foundation stone for the building was laid by King George V and Queen Mary on 10 July 1914. It was designed by the town architect James Thomson, assisted by Vernon Constable, while the decorative plaster work was produced by H. H. Martyn & Company of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, holders of the Royal Warrant. The building, which was named after its benefactor, the

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...

baron,

Sir James Caird James Caird may refer to: * Sir James Caird (politician) (1816–1892), Scottish writer and politician * Sir James Caird, 1st Baronet, of Belmont Castle (1837–1916), Scottish jute baron and philanthropist who sponsored Ernest Shackleton's ''Endur ...

, was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on 23 October 1923. The hall's pipe organ was built in 1923 by Harrison & Harrison, who also completed a restoration in 1992. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Caird Hall was used as mass vaccination centre operated by NHS Tayside. It opened on 2 February 2021 and closed on 20 September 2021, completing 135,000 vaccinations.

Events

The venue has a capacity of 2,300 fully seated, but can be subdivided or converted to standing where required. The hall is used for

graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

ceremonies from the University of Dundee, the University of Abertay Dundee and

Dundee and Angus College Dundee and Angus College is a further education college in the Tayside region of Scotland. It was created on 1 November 2013 as a merger of Angus College and Dundee College. It is the only college in Dundee, and, with approximately 23,000 enrolm ...

, as well as other significant university events. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra opened its 2019/20 season at the Caird Hall in October 2019.

In popular culture

The exterior of Caird Hall was used as a location during the filming of the Alan Bennett scripted '' An Englishman Abroad'' in 1983. It was decorated with placards of communist leaders, to take the part of a theatre in Moscow.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Dundee Category A listed buildings in Dundee Listed theatres in Scotland Buildings and structures completed in 1923