Coldstream Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street, Coldstream,

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

, Scotland. The structure, which currently accommodates a library and a registration office, is a Category B listed building.

History

The building was commissioned by

Cospatrick Douglas-Home, 11th Earl of Home Cospatrick Alexander Douglas-Home, 11th Earl of Home (27 October 1799 – 4 July 1881), styled Lord Dunglass until 1841, was a Scottish diplomat and politician. He served as a representative peer for Scotland. During the premiership of the Duke of ...

as a mechanics' institute and town hall for the town. It was designed by James Cunningham of Greenlaw 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 was completed in 1863. Ownership of the building was initially placed in the hands of the board of trustees of the mechanics' institute which was chaired by the

bailie A bailie or baillie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where bailies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate (see bailiff). Baillies appointed the high constables i ...

. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto the High Street. The central bay featured a doorway with a rectangular

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...

flanked by two narrow

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 ...

s and surmounted by a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

. On the ground floor, the outer bays were fenestrated by sash windows with cornices and, on the first floor, all bays were fenestrated by square

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 with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

s. The bays were flanked by full-height

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with u ...

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 ...

and a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

. The side elevation, facing onto Victoria Street, was fenestrated by tri-partite windows on the ground floor and by Venetian windows on the first floor. Internally, the principal rooms were the mechanics' institute on the ground floor and the council chamber for the burgh council on the first floor. The educational role of mechanics' institutes became redundant in the late 19th century and the trustees of the mechanics' institute sold the building to the burgh commissioners in December 1884. The building was also used as a community events venue and films were shown in the building until the Eildon Cinema opened in Victoria Street in April 1953. As the responsibilities of the burgh council increased, offices for the town clerk were established two doors away to the southwest, at No. 69 High Street. 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 Berwickshire District Council was formed in 1975. The building subsequently served as the local public library, as well as the local Registration Office and an approved venue for marriages and civil partnership ceremonies. Works of art in the town hall include a portrait of

George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cru ...

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1863 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in the Scottish Borders Coldstream

History

See also

References