The St Ninian's Centre (1960–2001) was a

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

owned by the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

which was located in

Crieff Crieff (; gd, Craoibh, meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy. The A822 joins the A823 to Dunfermline. Crieff has become ...

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, Scotland. It was converted from the former Crieff West Parish Church (Crieff West and Crieff North Parish Churches had united in 1957) and was extensively used for over 50 years as a training and conference venue by church groups, for both day visits and residential events. It closed in the 2000s and has since been converted to private

flats Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

History

Crieff West Parish Church was built 1837-8 on the corner of Comrie Road and Heathcote Road as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

to the older Crieff (East) Parish Church, which stands on Strathearn Terrace. The Crieff Parish lay within the Presbytery of Auchterarder. In 1864 the status of the church was raised to a ''quoad sacra'' parish. The building was converted for use as a lay training centre and was officially opened in 1958 by the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Church of Scotland minister D. P. Thomson. It was extensively used for over 50 years as a training and conference venue by church groups, for both day visits and residential events. By the 1990s use of the centre was declining and the facilities were in need of modernisation. In 2000 the Church of Scotland's Board of National Mission proposed the closure of the centre. After some disagreement at the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

, a Special Commission was set up to explore future use of the building, including continued use of the building as a Christian conference centre, but these proposal were not successful. In 2001 the General Assembly authorized the closure of St Ninian's.

Planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

was then sought for a change of use, and the building was sold off and converted into private

flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

s, which today are rented out as holiday accommodation. St Ninians Church Apartments - geograph

Architecture

The church was designed by the Scottish architect

Thomas Lennox Watson Thomas Lennox Watson (21 August 1850 – 12 October 1920), FRIBA, was a Scottish architect and interior designer. Born in Glasgow, he submitted designs for the city's City Chambers (1880) and Kelvingrove Art Gallery (1892) competitions, but w ...

in an early

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style fronted with

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. The centrepiece of the front

gable end A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

is a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

and the corners are topped with Gothic

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s. Around 1925, additional church furnishings were installed by the designer

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Gothi ...

. After conversion to a training centre, alterations to the building were carried out in 1960 by the architects Finlayson & Campbell. In 1982, a stone-clad flat-roofed porch was added to the front and an octagonal chapel built on the south-west side.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Church of Scotland Christian organisations based in Scotland Community centres 1960 establishments in Scotland 2001 disestablishments in Scotland Exhibition and conference centres in Scotland Crieff 19th-century Church of Scotland church buildings Churches completed in 1838