Oban Municipal Buildings is a municipal building on Albany Street in

Oban Oban ( ; meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William, Highland, Fort William. During the tourist seaso ...

in Scotland. The building, which is used by

Argyll and Bute Council Argyll and Bute Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Earra Ghàidheal is Bhòid'') is one of the 32 local authorities of Scotland, covering the Argyll and Bute council area. Thirty-six representative members make up the council, elected, sin ...

for the delivery of local services, 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 significant population growth, largely associated with the fishing and distillery industries, Oban became a

police burgh A police burgh was a Scottish burgh which had adopted a "police system" for governing the town. They existed from 1833 to 1975. The 1833 act The first police burghs were created under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 46 ...

in 1862. However, Oban did not have a town house, until the police commissioners decided to procure one to commemorate the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

. The site they selected was on the northwest side of Albany Street. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the provost, Francis Cooper, on 22 June 1897. It was designed by Alexander Shairp in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built in

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 £6,000 and was completed in around 1900. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Albany Street. The central bay featured a round headed opening with an

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

and a keystone flanked a pair of

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...

columns supporting an open segmental

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 ...

with floral carvings in the tympanum: there was a venetian window on the first floor. The other bays were fenestrated by

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s with keystones and triangular pediments on the ground floor, and by round headed windows with colonettes and keystones on the first floor. The bays were separated by full height pilasters supporting a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

and a balustraded

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. The parapet was broken by a panel, inscribed with the words "Municipal Buildings", which was surmounted by a triangular pediment containing an oculus and flanked by

pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

s supporting

finial A finial () 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 dome, spire, tower, roo ...

s. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber in the northeast corner of the first floor. In August 1956, Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

visited the town and, following her visit, a plaque was placed on the main frontage, to the right of the entrance, to celebrate the royal visit. In October 1962, another plaque was placed on the main frontage, to the left of the entrance, to celebrate the founding of

An Comunn Gàidhealach An Comunn Gàidhealach (; literally "The Gaelic Association"), commonly known as An Comunn, is a Scottish organisation that supports and promotes the Scottish Gaelic language and Scottish Gaelic culture and history at local, national and intern ...

(English: The Gaelic Association) in Oban in 1891. The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the burgh council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Argyll and Bute District Council was formed in 1975. However, the council, known as

after it became a unitary authority in 1996, subsequently established a customer service point in the building as well as a series of "touchdown areas" for local residents. Works of art in the building included a pair of portraits by Duncan MacGregor Whyte depicting the provosts, Dugald McIsaac and Hugh MacGowan.

References

{{reflist Category B listed buildings in Argyll and Bute Listed government buildings in Scotland 1900 establishments in Scotland Government buildings completed in 1900 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Oban

History

See also

References