Perth City Hall is an events facility in King Edward Street,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, Scotland. It 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 ...
. Built in 1914, it closed in 2005 and underwent a major renovation, beginning in 2018, including the introduction of a museum in part of the building. The building is scheduled to reopen as Perth Museum in 2024.
History
In the mid-19th century the administrative centre of the town was the old city chambers at the east end of the High Street. However, civic leaders needed a public hall in which to hold concerts and other public events and the first city hall, designed by
William Macdonald Mackenzie
William Macdonald Mackenzie (20 July, 1797 – 25 February, 1856) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the first half of the 19th century.Lord Provost, Councillor James Cuthbert, on 26 June 1909. It was designed by
Harry Edward Clifford
Henry Edward Clifford FRIBA (12 September 1852 – 14 October 1932) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Classical style
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 works of the Roman architect V ...
, built at a cost of £25,000 and officially opened by the
Lord Justice General
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
, Lord Dunedin, on 29 April 1911. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing King Edward Street, which was laid out between 1901 and 1902;''Perth, A City Again'', Duncan. J. (2012), p. 299 the central section of three bays featured a large portico with three round-headed doorways with windows above flanked by full-height Ionic order columns in pairs.
Perth mercat cross
Perth mercat cross is located on King Edward Street in the Scottish city of Perth, Perth and Kinross. Erected in 1913, in memory of Edward VII, it stands immediately to the west of Perth City Hall, which was completed a year later, between it an ...
was erected immediately to the west of City Hall in 1913, during the building's reconstruction.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
addressed the Scottish Conservative Party conference in the hall, just a week after becoming
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
, in May 1979. Beyond the mercat cross, the main entrance of St John's Centre was built facing City Hall: the remainder of
St John's Place
St John's Place (formerly known as Kirkside) is an ancient street in the city of Perth, Scotland, located a short distance southeast of the city centre. Today it runs for about between King Edward Street to the west and St John Street to th ...
was demolished in 1987 to make way for its construction.
High profile concert performers at City Hall have included Morrissey in September 2004. However, following the opening of the Perth Concert Hall in 2005, the city hall became vacant and was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. In May 2012
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 ...
submitted a proposal to demolish the hall and redevelop the site but this was rejected by
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment ...
. The council then sought architectural proposals for the re-design of the existing building and the short-listed proposals were put on display in June 2017. In January 2019 BAM Construction began work on a £30 million programme of works to convert the city hall into a new heritage and arts attraction based on a design by
Mecanoo
Mecanoo is an architecture firm based in Delft, Netherlands. Mecanoo was founded in 1984 by Francine Houben, Henk Döll, Roelf Steenhuis, Erick van Egeraat and Chris de Weijer.
Foundation
Houben, Döll and Steenhuis won a competition to desig ...
. The new attraction will incorporate displays on the Stone of Destiny and the
Kingdom of Alba
The Kingdom of Alba ( la, Scotia; sga, Alba) was the Kingdom of Scotland between the deaths of Donald II in 900 and of Alexander III in 1286. The latter's death led indirectly to an invasion of Scotland by Edward I of England in 1296 and the ...
.
In December 2020, the Scottish Government announced that the Stone of Destiny would be relocated to the hall by 2024.
A competition to name the building's forthcoming museum section was launched in March 2022, with the winning name being "Perth Museum", with 60% of the votes.
See also
*
List of listed buildings in Perth, Scotland
This is a list of listed buildings in the parish of Perth, Scotland.
List
:''All entries, addresses and coordinates are based on data froHistoric Scotland This data falls under thOpen Government Licence'
...
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...