The Municipal Buildings are based on the north side of Buccleuch Street,

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

, Scotland. The structure, which was the headquarters of Dumfries Burgh Council, is a Category C

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 municipal building in the town was a

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essen ...

in the High Street which dated back to the 15th century. It was demolished and replaced by a townhouse, known as the Midsteeple, which was completed in 1707. After deciding that the Midsteeple was inadequate for their needs, civic leaders acquired the old courthouse on the north side of Buccleuch Street in 1866. The old courthouse was then converted for municipal use as a town hall, to a design by John Johnstone, but it was badly damaged in a fire on 29 November 1908. Losses in the fire included fine portraits of King William and Queen Mary painted by

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to Kingdom of England, English and Br ...

which had been presented to the town by the former 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 of ...

, John Johnstone. However, a silver gun which had been presented by

King James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

to the Seven Incorporated Trades of Dumfries in 1598 survived the fire. In the 1920s civic leaders decided to demolish the old building in Buccleuch Street and to replace it with a new structure on the same site. The new building was designed by James Carruthers of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in the Edwardian Baroque style, built in red

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 extracted from a quarry at

Locharbriggs Locharbriggs is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located near the Lochar Water, north-northeast of the town of Dumfries. It was one of several villages that stood on the edge of the Lochar Moss which was largely reclaimed in th ...

and was officially opened by the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...

on 20 September 1932. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Buccleuch Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway flanked by square

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 col ...

columns supporting a curved

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

. The other bays on the ground floor as well as the bays on the first floor featured

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 flanked by full-height

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

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 ...

. There were smaller sash windows on the second floor. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber which was decorated to a design by Wylie and Lochhead with panelling which had originally been intended for the

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

''RMS Queen Mary'' whose construction and internal fit-out had been delayed because of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. A stained glass window was recovered from the previous building on the site and installed in a room on the ground floor at the rear of the building. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Dumfries Burgh Council for much of the 20th century and became the meeting place of the enlarged Nithsdale District Council after it was formed in 1975. However, it ceased to be the local seat of government when

Dumfries and Galloway Council Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcu ...

became the new

unitary authority 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 governmen ...

for the area, with its offices at County Buildings in English Street, in 1996. The municipal buildings instead became the local provost's office and also the local registration office.

Notes

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1932

Buildings and structures in Dumfries

History

See also

Notes

References