County Buildings is a municipal structure in English Street,

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, Scotland. The structure, which is the headquarters of

Dumfries and Galloway Council Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the ...

, is a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

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 fol ...

, which established county councils in every county, the new county leaders decided to commission offices for Dumfriesshire County Council. The site they selected formed the storehouse for the local militia barracks. The main part of the old militia barracks, which was on an adjacent site to the southwest, was retained and incorporated into the new complex as additional office space. The foundation stone for the new building was laid in September 1912. It was designed by

John Dick Peddie John Dick Peddie (24 February 1824 – 12 March 1891) was a Scottish architect, businessman and a Liberal Party politician. Biography John Dick Peddie and his twin brother William were the second and third sons of James Peddie WS and Margaret D ...

and James Forbes Smith in the

Renaissance Revival style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

, built in red

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone at a cost of £21,000 and was completed in 1914. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto English Street with the end bays projected forward to form wings; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway flanked by

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

supporting a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. On the first floor there was a

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

and a three-light window flanked by

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s, and, at attic level, there was a gable containing a

Diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths (''thermae'') of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some neo-classical architecture, classical rev ...

and a blind panel. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber at the rear of the building. Following the abolition of Dumfriesshire County Council, the complex became the headquarters of Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council in 1975, and then, after the introduction of

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

, it became the headquarters of

in 1996. The Queensberry Monument, which was designed by

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 (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

in memory of

Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry, 2nd Duke of Dover, (24 November 169822 October 1778) was a Scottish nobleman, extensive landowner, Privy Council of Great Britain, Privy Counsellor and Vice Admiral of Scotland. Life Charles was born ...

, was originally erected in Queensberry Square in 1780. It was moved to the forecourt of the County Buildings in 1934 but then returned to Queensberry Square as part of a project to pedestrianise the area in 1990.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1914 Buildings and structures in Dumfries Category B listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway

1914 establishments in Scotland Listed government buildings in Scotland Renaissance Revival architecture in the United Kingdom

History

See also

References