The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in Queen Charlotte Street,

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, Scotland. The old town hall, which was the meeting place of Leith Burgh Council, is now used as a police station. It is a Category A

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 current building replaced a 16th-century

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 esse ...

in Tolbooth Wynd which had become dilapidated and, despite objections from the author,

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

, and the antiquary,

Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe (1781?–1851) was a Scottish antiquary and artist. Life He was the second son of Charles Sharpe (originally Charles Kirkpatrick) of Hoddam, Dumfriesshire, by Eleonora, youngest daughter of John Renton of Lamerton, bor ...

, was demolished in 1824. After significant industrial growth, particularly associated with the shipbuilding and repair facilities in the town, the Leith Police Act, which provided for the "Municipal Government of the Town and Suburbs of the Town of Leith", was enacted in 1827. In this context, civic leaders decided to procure a new town hall: the site selected was on the corner of Queen Charlotte Street and Constitution Street, the latter being the main thoroughfare to Leith Docks. The foundation stone for the new building was laid in March 1828. It was designed by

R & R Dickson Richard and Robert Dickson (usually simply referred to as R & R Dickson) were brothers, acting as architects in Scotland in the early and mid-19th century. Whilst most of their work is typified by remote country houses they are best known for th ...

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 at a cost of £3,260 from ashlar stone brought from

Craigleith Quarry Craigleith ( gd, Creag Lìte) is an area of west Edinburgh, Scotland. Its name comes from various forms of Craig of Inverleith, or rock or hill of Inverleith. The area lies between Ravelston Dykes, to Crewe Toll and the Ferry Road, and Comely ...

and completed in spring 1829. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Constitution Street; there was a small round door in the centre bay on the ground floor with small round headed windows in the other bays. The first floor featured tall sash windows and the second floor small square sash windows flanked by Ionic order columns (for the middle bays) and

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 ...

pilasters (for the outer bays) supporting a large entablature with a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

inscribed "Erected by the Magistrates and Masters / MDCCCXXVIII". The Queen Charlotte Street elevation also involved five bays; the central section of three bays featured a

porch on the ground floor, tall sash windows on the first floor and small square sash windows on the second floor with a large entablature a frieze inscribed "Town Hall / R & R Dickson Architects". Internally, the principal rooms were the sheriffs' courtroom, to the north, and the council chamber to the south. A painting by

Alexander Carse Alexander Carse (c. 1770 – February 1843) was a Scottish painter known for his scenes of Scottish life. His works include a large canvas of George IV's visit to Leith and three early paintings of football matches. Life Carse was born in Inne ...

, depicting the arrival of

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...

at Leith Docks during his visit to Scotland in 1822, was hung in the new council chamber. The town became an independent burgh in 1833 with the town hall as its headquarters. The town hall was extended to the east along Queen Charlotte Street by the acquisition and conversion of a section of terraced housing, to a design by James Simpson, in 1868. It was also extended to the north along Constitution Street by the construction of a two-storey section, also to a design by James Simpson, in 1878. This section is still intact as the town jail, containing eight cells at first floor, but ceased to be used for overnight prisoners in the 1990s. The council chamber was remodelled in 1878 and subsequently re-decorated by

Thomas Bonnar Thomas Bonnar ( d.1847) was a Scottish interior designer and architect of note, working in the Edinburgh area. He is particularly remembered for his outstanding ceilings. Thomas was father to William Bonnar RSA (1800-1853), artist, and Thomas ...

in 1892. The town hall ceased to be the local seat of government when the burgh of Leith was annexed by the City of Edinburgh in 1920. As a consolation the people of Leith were given a new

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

complex on

Ferry Road Ferry Road is one of the major roads of Edinburgh, Scotland, deriving its name from being the road from Queensferry to Leith. It runs from the eastern end of Davidson's Mains village in the west, to Leith in the east, passing through Drylaw, ...

, which for a while was referred to as the new town hall. Meanwhile, the old town hall was put to use as commercial offices until 1983 when it was converted for use as a police station.

References

{{Buildings and Structures in Edinburgh, state=collapsed Government buildings completed in 1829

Buildings and structures in Leith Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh

History

See also

References