County Buildings was a municipal structure in Garshake Road,

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter to ...

, Scotland. The complex was the headquarters of Dunbartonshire County Council and was subsequently used as council offices for

West Dunbartonshire Council West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

History

The original county offices in Dumbarton were in the Sheriff Courthouse in Church Street. In the early 1960s, the council leaders decided that Dunbartonshire County Council needed larger offices and they selected a site to the southeast of Garshake Road in what was once part of the Crosslet Estate. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the council convener, Hugh Gillies, in September 1962. It was designed by Armstrong Lane, Duncan Bremner, and Alan Bristow of the firm of Lane Bremner & Garnett in the Brutalist style, built in concrete and glass at a cost of £800,000 and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, who was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, on 28 June 1965. The design involved a five-storey long and narrow main frontage facing onto Garshake Road. In front of the main building there was a large two-story structure and, behind the main frontage, there was a smaller single-story square building which accommodated the council chamber. A statue sculpted by James Barclay depicting a mother and child was installed outside the main entrance. After the abolition of Dunbartonshire County Council in 1975, ownership of the main building passed to

Strathclyde Regional Council Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government ...

and, following the introduction of

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

in 1995, ownership based to

. In the early 20th century, the council, finding County Buildings "out of date", "crumbling" and "in the wrong location", decided to commission new offices which were to be erected behind the façade of

Dumbarton Burgh Hall Dumbarton Burgh Hall is a municipal structure in Church Street, Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The building, which is the headquarters of West Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire Council, is Category A listed building, listed. Histor ...

. After the staff moved into the new offices in July 2018, the structure on Garshake Road was demolished in summer 2019. The site was marketed for sale in September 2018 and, in November 2019,

Miller Homes Miller Homes is a housebuilder based in the United Kingdom. History The company was established by Sir James Miller in 1934. Expansion led to James' brothers, John and Lawrence, joining him in the business. Miller soon became Edinburgh's lea ...

acquired the site for around £6 million and subsequently secured planning consent to build 86 houses there. The new development was named Garshake Gardens.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1965