Stornoway Town Hall is a former municipal building on South Beach in

Stornoway Stornoway (; ) is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides (or Western Isles), and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it the third-largest island town in Scotlan ...

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis () or simply Lewis () is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The t ...

, Scotland. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Stornoway Town Council, 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

Proposals for a town hall in Stornoway, to be funded by public subscription, were first considered by the town council in 1897. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Major Duncan Matheson of

Lews Castle Lews Castle (Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Leòdhais'') is a Victorian era castle located west of the town of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. It was built in the years 1844–51 as a country house for Sir James Matheson who had bought the who ...

in August 1903. It designed by John Robertson of Inverness in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

and opened by the former

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 ...

, the

Earl of Rosebery Earl of Rosebery is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1703 for Archibald Primrose, 1st Viscount of Rosebery, with remainder to his issue male and female successively. Its name comes from Roseberry Topping, a hill near Archibald's w ...

, on 7 September 1905. After the original structure was gutted by fire on 2 March 1918, it was rebuilt in the same style and re-opened by the President of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada,

Thomas Bassett Macaulay Thomas Bassett Macaulay, also known as T. B. Macaulay, (6 June 1860 – 1942) is a noted actuary of his era, a philanthropist; and was the founder of the Macaulay Institute, in 1930. It has been estimated that most of the world's Holstein cattle d ...

, who was a member of the

Macaulay family of Lewis The Macaulay family of Uig in Lewis, known in Scottish Gaelic as ''Clann mhic Amhlaigh'', were a small family located around Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. There is no connection between the Macaulays of Lewis and C ...

and a prominent contributor to the rebuilding fund, in 1929. The design involved a symmetrical frontage with eleven bays facing South Beach; the central section featured a round-headed doorway on the ground floor flanked by

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

ed bays; there were four triple windows, each with an

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

moulding, on the first floor; the building also turreted corner bays and a central

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. Internally, the principal room was the public hall, which was in the centre of the building, lying parallel to the main frontage. The clock tower gained some fame from the song ''Lovely Stornoway'' which was sung by

Calum Kennedy Calum Kennedy (born as Malcolm Martin Kennedy; June 2, 1928 – April 15, 2006) was a Scotland, Scottish singer who performed in both English language, English and Scottish Gaelic. Biography Kennedy was born in Orinsay, a small crofting village ...

in the 1960s. The building served as the headquarters of Stornoway Town Council until it was absorbed into

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for, gd, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, italic=no, Council of the Western Isles, paren=left; ) is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for ''Na h-Eileanan an Iar'' (the Western Isles, also known as the Outer Hebrides), one of the 32 co ...

in 1975. The building was then used as the home of the arts centre, An Lanntair, until October 2005 when the centre moved to a purpose-built facility on the seafront. The town hall was then extensively refurbished for £2.1 million, with financial support from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and

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 ...

, to the designs of architects, Simpson & Brown, and was re-opened for community use in March 2012. The refurbishment works included the reinstatement of the original fourteen roof lights in the main hall, so providing natural lighting to the room, as well as the removal of the stage in the main hall, so revealing three

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows in the western

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

and providing additional natural light. The

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

and Countess of Wessex visited the town hall and met local leaders of

the Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

scheme in May 2014.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in the Isle of Lewis City chambers and town halls in Scotland Government buildings completed in 1929 1905 in Scotland 1929 in Scotland Stornoway Listed government buildings in Scotland Category B listed buildings in the Outer Hebrides

History

See also

References