Clydebank Town Hall is a municipal building in Dumbarton Road,

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

, Scotland. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Clydebank Burgh Council, 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

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the shipbuilding industry, the area became a burgh in November 1886. Civic leaders initially held their meetings in a shop in Glasgow Road but, after finding this arrangement inadequate, they decided to procure a dedicated town hall: the site they selected was open land on the southwest side of Dumbarton Road. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the

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 Kilmarnock Burghs, Colonel

John Denny John Allen Denny (born November 8, 1952) is an American former professional baseball right-handed pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, and Cincinnati Reds, from ...

, on 23 June 1900. It was designed by James Miller 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

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 was officially opened by the provost, Andrew Stewart, on 4 April 1902. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto Dumbarton Road with the end bays projected forward and topped with segmental open pediments containing carved figures in the tympanums; the central bay, which was also projected forward, featured a doorway with a

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

grill flanked by

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

columns 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 ...

which was decorated with an elaborate 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 ...

. On the first floor there was a

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 French door flanked by two pairs of Ionic order columns supporting an arch containing more carved figures. Above the arch was a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

flanked by two

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

s. Set back on the right hand side was a tall clock tower with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

. Internally, the principal rooms were the main hall and the council chamber. Shortly after she was elected secretary of the local branch of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

in 1913, the political activist,

Jane Rae Jane Rae (20 December 1872 – 12 May 1959) was a British political activist, suffragist, councillor and Justice of the peace. She was one of the activists involved in the 1911 all-out strike at the Singer Sewing Machine factory at Kilbowie in ...

, hosted a talk by the suffragette,

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...

, in the town hall. A war memorial to commemorate the lives of 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 sculpted by

Walter Gilbert Walter Gilbert (born March 21, 1932) is an American biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate. Education and early life Walter Gilbert was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1932, the son of Emma (Cohen), a ...

, installed on the Hall Street elevation at the foot of the tower and unveiled by the

Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire. Before the twentieth century, the county was spelled Dumbartonshire. *John Elphinstone, 11th Lord Elphinstone (17 March 1794 – 19 August 1799) *John Elphinstone, ...

, Sir Iain Colquhoun, on 8 June 1931. Despite the close proximity to the shipyard of

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish Naval architecture, marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2 (ship), Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its ...

, the town hall only suffered minor damage in the

Clydebank Blitz The Clydebank Blitz were a pair of air raids conducted by the ''Luftwaffe'' on the shipbuilding and munition-making town of Clydebank in Scotland. The bombings took place in March 1941. The air raids were part of a bombing program known today as ...

in March 1941 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. A figure of an angel, also referred to as "Mercury", sculpted by

Albert Hodge Albert Hemstock Hodge (17 July 1875 – 31 December 1917 or 27 January 1918McKay, James, ''The Dictionary of Sculptors in Bronze'', Antique Collectors Club, London, 1995) was a Scottish born sculptor. Hodge was born at Port Ellen, on the island ...

, which had originally been installed on top of the cupola was relocated to the main vestibule after being damaged in a hurricane in 1968. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of Clydebank Burgh Council for much of the 20th century and initially remained the meeting place of the enlarged Clydebank District Council after it was formed in 1975. However, most of the council's officers and departments relocated to new council offices in Rosebery Place in 1980. Instead, the Clydebank Museum, which was established to exhibit aspects of local history, was opened in the town hall in 1980. A

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

organ with three

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual * Instruction manual (gaming) * Online help Other uses * Manual (music), a keyboard, as for an organ * Manual (band) * Manual transmission * Manual, a bicycle technique similar to ...

s, which had originally been installed in the Ritz cinema in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

was transferred to the town hall in September 1998, but after having been repeatedly damaged by flooding from the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

, it was removed for its own protection and was transferred to

Pollokshaws Burgh Hall The Pollokshaws Burgh Hall is a municipal building at the edge of Pollok Country Park, Glasgow, Scotland. The burgh hall, which was briefly the headquarters of Pollokshaws Burgh Council, is a Category A listed building. History The building ...

in 2007. Following an extensive programme of refurbishment works costing £3.7 million, Clydebank Town Hall reopened as a venue for marriages and civil partnership ceremonies in 2013.

References

{{Reflist Government buildings completed in 1902

Clydebank Category B listed buildings in West Dunbartonshire 1902 establishments in Scotland Clock towers in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References