Perth City Hall is a civic building in

King Edward Street King Edward Street is a street running between the High Street to the north and Oriel Square to the south in central Oxford, England. On the east side of the street is the "Island" site of Oriel College, one of the colleges of Oxford Uni ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Scotland. Built in 1914, it 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 ...

. The building served as a

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

before closing in 2005 and being replaced by Perth Concert Hall. Major renovations began in 2018 which included the introduction of a museum in part of the building. It reopened on 30 March 2024 as the new home of

Perth Museum Perth Museum is the principal museum in the city of Perth in central Scotland. Opening in 2024 in the former Perth City Hall building, the museum took on a number of exhibits from the former Perth Museum and Art Gallery. It also provides a perm ...

, with the Stone of Destiny as one of the flagship items on display.

History

In the mid-19th century the administrative centre of the town was the old city chambers at the east end of the High Street. However, civic leaders needed a public hall in which to hold concerts and other public events and the first city hall, designed by William Macdonald Mackenzie, was built on the site of the old flesh, butter and meal markets in what became

in 1844. By the turn of the century the first city hall was in a very dilapidated state and, after a piece of plaster fell from the ceiling injuring several people, the building was demolished in 1908. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the

Lord Provost A lord provost () is the convenor of the local authority, the civic head and the lord-lieutenant of one of the principal cities of Scotland. The office is similar to that of a lord mayor. Only the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirlin ...

, Councillor James Cuthbert, on 26 June 1909. It was designed by Harry Edward Clifford and Thomas Melville Lunan in the

Classical style Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De architectura'' (c. 10 AD) by the Roman architect Vitruvius. Va ...

, built at a cost of £25,000 and officially opened by the

Lord Justice General Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

, Lord Dunedin, on 29 April 1911. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing King Edward Street (a 180-degree change from the original building's orientation), which was laid out between 1901 and 1902;''Perth, A City Again'', Duncan. J. (2012), p. 299 the central section of three bays featured a large

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with three round-headed doorways with windows above flanked by full-height

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

columns in pairs. Perth mercat cross was erected immediately to the west of City Hall in 1913, during the building's reconstruction.

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

addressed the Scottish Conservative Party conference in the hall, just a week after becoming

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, in May 1979. Beyond the mercat cross, the main entrance of St John's Centre was built facing City Hall: St John's Square was demolished in 1987 to make way for its construction. Perth City Hall hosted concerts from a number of high-profile performers throughout its history, including

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

in 1965 and

The Spencer Davis Group The Spencer Davis Group were a British blues and R&B influenced rock band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (vocals, keyboards, and guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). ...

in 1966 through to

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

as late as September 2004. However, following the opening of the Perth Concert Hall in 2005, the city hall became vacant and was placed on the

Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland The Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland records buildings of national architectural or historic interest which are considered to be under threat. The list is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland (HES). The register was established in 1 ...

. In May 2012

Perth and Kinross Council Perth and Kinross Council () is the local authority for Perth and Kinross, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council has been under no overall control since 1999. It is based in Perth. History A district called Perth and Kinross was ...

submitted a proposal to demolish the hall and redevelop the site but this was rejected by

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

. The council then sought architectural proposals for the re-design of the existing building and the short-listed proposals were put on display in June 2017.

Perth Museum

In January 2019, BAM Construction began work on a £30 million programme of works to convert the city hall into a new heritage and arts attraction based on a design by

Mecanoo Mecanoo is an architecture firm based in Delft, Netherlands. Mecanoo was founded in 1984 by Francine Houben, Henk Döll, Roelf Steenhuis, Erick van Egeraat and Chris de Weijer. Foundation Houben, Döll and Steenhuis won a competition to de ...

. The new attraction will incorporate displays on the Stone of Destiny and the

Kingdom of Alba The Kingdom of Alba (; ) was the Kingdom of Scotland between the deaths of Donald II in 900 and of Alexander III in 1286. The latter's death led indirectly to an invasion of Scotland by Edward I of England in 1296 and the First War of Scotti ...

. In December 2020, the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

announced that the Stone of Destiny would be relocated to the hall by 2024. A competition to name the building's forthcoming museum section was launched in March 2022, with the winning name being "Perth Museum", with 60% of the votes. The building reopened on 30 March 2024 as the Perth Museum, with the Stone of Destiny and the Carpow Logboat as two of the flagship items on display.

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

"Friends of Perth & Kinross Archive Present: Ancient Roots - creating a new museum at Perth City Hall"
– Culture Perth and Kinross, YouTube, 16 May 2022

Government buildings completed in 1914 1914 establishments in Scotland Listed buildings in Perth, Scotland Category B listed buildings in Perth and Kinross Listed government buildings in Scotland Listed museum buildings in Scotland

History

Perth Museum

See also

Notes

References

External links