County Buildings is a municipal structure in the High Street in

Kinross Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire. History Kinross's origins are conn ...

, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The structure, which accommodates the local area offices for

Perth and Kinross Council Perth and Kinross Council ( gd, Comhairle Pheairt is Cheann Rois) is the local government council for the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland. It employs around 6,000 people. The council was created in 1996, under the '' Local Governme ...

, 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

The first county hall in Kinross-shire was a modest structure in the High Street which was completed in around 1600. It was primarily used as a courthouse and was repaired to a design by the architect and local

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 o ...

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

, in 1771. The design involved a prominent bowed frontage facing south down the High Street. In the 1820s, the local sheriff decided that a more substantial courthouse was needed: a suitable site, further north along the High Street, was selected. The new building was designed by Thomas Brown of

Uphall Uphall ( sco, Uphauch, gd, Ubhalaidh) is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. It is a swiftly growing village in a conurbation with Broxburn to the east, Dechmont to the west and the major town of Livingston to the south west. Uphall is 30 mil ...

in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £2,000 and was completed in 1826. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the High Street, with the end bays slightly projected forward as

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

s; the central bay featured a doorway with a fanlight flanked by a pair of

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

columns supporting an entablature, with a sash window on the first floor. The other bays in the central section were fenestrated by round headed windows on the ground floor and by square headed sash windows on the first floor. The outer bays, which featured doorways on the ground floor and sash windows with architraves on the first floor, were surmounted by pediments which contained a clock in the left hand tympanum and an

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

in the right hand tympanum. Internally, the principal rooms were the courtroom, the witness rooms, the sheriff clerk's offices, a records room and several cells for prisoners. Following the implementation of the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 50) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland. In this it foll ...

, which established county councils in every county, Kinross-shire County Council also established its offices in the building. A war memorial, in the form of a column surmounted by a cross and mounted on a

pedestal A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

, which was intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who 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 unveiled outside the building in the presence of Lord Constable on 1 January 1921. Following the abolition of the county council in 1975, the building was converted for use as a business centre, but it also continued to accommodate the local area offices of

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1820 K Category B listed buildings in Perth and Kinross Kinross

History

See also

References