Old Viewforth is a municipal facility on Pitt Terrace in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, Scotland. The facility, which is the headquarters of

Stirling Council Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, ...

, 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 ...

History

The first house on the site, which was known as "Viewforth" was commissioned by the Rev John McMillan, Moderator of the

Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland is a small, Scottish, Presbyterian church denomination. Theologically they are similar to many other Presbyterian denominations in that their office-bearers subscribe to the Westminster Confession of ...

, in 1787. The building was acquired by Peter Drummond, a seed merchant, who demolished the old house in 1853. The earliest part of the current building, which was designed by John Hay in the

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

, was built for Drummond and completed in 1855. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with four bays facing St Ninian's Road; it featured a stone

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

, supported by polished columns, on the ground floor with

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

and

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

above; there was a narrow

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...

on the first floor and a

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from the ...

on the left corner. It was remodeled in 1871 and acquired by Stirlingshire County Council in 1931. A large extension, extending the building eastwards to a design by James Miller in an

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style in order the create additional administrative facilities for the county council, was added in 1937. The design for the extension involved an asymmetrical main frontage with eighteen bays facing south; the central section of three sections featured a doorway with an

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

surround on the ground floor flanked by windows and 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 with a coat of arms above; there were windows on the first floor with a block

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

and

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 ...

above. Statues of

William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army a ...

and

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...

were erected on either side of the doorway. The principal room was the council chamber which jutted out to the north of the extension. The complex became the headquarters for the wider

Central Regional Council Central Region (''Roinn Meadhanach'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) was a Local government of Scotland, local government Local government areas of Scotland 1973 to 1996, region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996, one of twelve such bodies across the ...

when it was created in May 1975. Following the reorganisation under the

Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c. 39) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the current local government structure of 32 unitary authorities covering the whole of Scotland. It abolished the two-tier st ...

, which saw the abolition of the district councils in the area, the building became the headquarters of the new

in 1996. A modern building known as "New Viewforth", designed in the Brutalist style, was constructed to the south of Old Viewforth and officially opened on 29 February 1972 but, after it became apparent that refurbishment would be uneconomic, it was demolished in 2014. In February 2020 the council announced that, although the council's main building at Old Viewforth was being retained, a section of land on the east of the site would be marketed for sale as part of plans for the Viewforth Link Road. File:Stirling Council Head Quarters - geograph.org.uk - 131346.jpg, Extension to the building by James Miller completed in 1937 File:Stirling District Council Offices - geograph.org.uk - 1013612.jpg, "New Viewforth", demolished in 2014

Notes

References

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Old Viewforth Old Viewforth is a municipal facility on Pitt Terrace in Stirling, Scotland. The facility, which is the headquarters of Stirling Council, is a Category B listed building. History The first house on the site, which was known as "Viewforth" was c ...

Government buildings completed in 1855 1855 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures in Stirling (city) Category B listed buildings in Stirling (council area) Listed government buildings in Scotland County halls in Scotland

History

See also

Notes

References