Invergordon Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in

Invergordon Invergordon (; or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was established in 1828. The area ...

in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

area of Scotland. The structure, which is used as a community events venue, is a Category B listed building.

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with development of the harbour, the area became a police burgh in 1863. In this context, the new council established its burgh chambers on the south side of the High Street at No. 56 and met there for the first time on 24 August 1864. Within a few years, council leaders decided that they also needed a community events venue; the site they selected for the new town hall was on the north side of the High Street. The new town hall was designed by William Cumming Joass in the Italianate style, 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 and was completed in 1871. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street. The central bay, which was slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway with a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

, an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

and a keystone 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 supporting a segmental pediment; on the first floor, there was a prominent Venetian window which was surmounted by

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a Cornice (architecture), cornice which helps to support them. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally transl ...

ed pediment with a carving depicting

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

in the tympanum. The outer bays were fenestrated by round headed windows with architraves and keystones on the ground floor and by shell headed windows with architraves on the first floor. At roof level, there a modillioned

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

, a small

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 ...

and three urns. The carving depicting Neptune was sculpted by D. and A. Davidson. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall. The town hall was initially used for concerts and theatre performances but, in 1934, it was leased to the Invergordon Picture House Company and a programme of conversion works were carried out, to a design by Alexander Ross & Son, so that it could be used as a cinema. It was also used as a Bingo Hall from the late 1960s. In the late 1960s, it was also the venue for a packed public meeting at which the managing director of British Aluminium, Ronald Utiger, talked about the potential local impact of a proposed

aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an List of alumina refineries, alumina refinery. ...

. Following local government re-organisation in 1975, it passed into the ownership of Ross and Cromarty District Council; it closed as a cinema in 1984 and was converted for use as an arts centre in 1988. Following the creation 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 ...

in 1996, it passed into the ownership of

the Highland Council The Highland Council (' ) is the local authority for Highland, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council is based at the Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness. History The Highland area had been created as an administrative ...

. In January 2019, the council announced that, in the context of the significant cost of future refurbishment work which it estimated would be at least £200,000, it would consult on the possible disposal of the building. The building was generating limited income from its use as a community events venue but it was inadequate to cover operating costs. Accordingly, although a community group was formed to consider options, the group was unable to develop a viable proposal and, in June 2021, council officers recommended disposal of the building.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1871 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Highland (council area) Invergordon

History

See also

References