Airdrie, Stirling Street, Sir John Wilson Town Hall

Situated on the E side of Bank Street, this two-storeyed late Georgian building has a six-stage steeple some 30.8m high rising above the central bay of the main (W) front. It originally measured 13.3m across the W front by about 10m in depth, but was extended in depth to 19.5m in 1948 when a new council chamber was built at the rear. I The three-bayed main front,which has angle-pilasters, has channelled masonry at groundfloor level, and the upper stages of the steeple are of ashlar. The remaining masonry as rendered, and the double-hipped roof is slated.

The central bay of the W front, at the base of the steeple, is slightly advanced and encloses a doorway framed by twin engaged Tuscan columns on raised plinths. The third principal stage of the steeple, which stands on a square double-stepped pedestal, has recessed Tuscan columns at the angles and a pedimented window in each face. This stage is surmounted by an entablature with a heavy cornice. At the next level there are clock-faces within square surrounds in the principal faces, and recessed panels in the narrow oblique ones. The belfry has round-headed openings within Tuscan columns supporting an emphatic entablature which steps in at the angles and is surmounted by an octagonal spire.

When built, the town-house had a police office and cells on the ground floor and a court-room, also used as the councilchamber, on the first floor. Few original internal features survive since both floors have undergone extensive reworking from the late 19th century onwards.

HISTORY

The decision to build 'a small Town House and a jail' in Airdrie was taken in 1822, a year after the town had become a burgh of barony. Previously, courts and council meetings had been held in the masonic lodge. Following a dispute between the Town Council and local heritors regarding the site first proposed, the present building was begun in June 1825 and completed eighteen months later to the designs of Alexander Baird, the burgh treasurer. His plans were chosen in preference to those of George Waddell, a former councillor, and the contract for £1,075 was awarded to James Orr, who was also a member of the council as were the three unsuccessful tenderers. A further public subscription allowed the addition in 1828 of a bell cast by Stephen Miller, Glasgow, and a clock which was replaced in 1954.

Information from ‘Tolbooths and Town-Houses: Civic Architecture in Scotland to 1833’ (1996).