Description

Henry E Clifford, 1885. 2-storey, 3 x 5-bay public hall and offices of rectangular plan. Stugged, squared and snecked sandstone walls to E and N, coursed rubble to W and S, stugged and polished ashlar dressings droved at arrises. High base course to ground floor cill level, cill course at 1st floor and eaves course, except to rear elevation.

NW (ENTRANCE) FRONT: near-symmetrical, with centre bay breaking eaves as entrance tower. Shallow round-arched recess extending to full height of tower, entrance door at ground floor, pedimented over deep frieze bearing script "Christian Institute", flanking narrow windows. Tripartite window to full height of 1st floor, thermal window in arch-head above, with keystone at centre. Plain parapet at tower eaves with corniced terminal dies surmounted by ball finials. Tripartite windows at ground floor and 1st floor (with drip moulds) flanking centre bay. Entrance door inserted at central opening of ground floor bay to left.

NE (HALL STREET) ELEVATION: 5-bay elevation comprising 4-bay hall with additional bay to outer right. Bays 1-4, 4 arcaded windows at 1st floor, ground floor, entrance door to left of 1st bay, 2 windows at 2nd bay window at left infilled. Tripartite window across 3rd and 4th bays. Tripartite windows at ground floor and 1st floor (with drip mould) of bay to outer right.

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: narrow windows at ground floor with round-arched windows at 1st floor.

Modern timber glazing to all openings. 6-panel, 2-leaf timber principal entrance doors with 4-panel 2-leaf timber door to left. Silver grey slated roofs, terracotta tiles at principal ridge and piended roofs flanking tower. Bell-cast roof with concealed flashings to tower, timber bellcote at apex surmounted by ogee lead roof with wrought-iron fish weathervane. Profiled cast-iron gutters at eaves, cast-iron downpipes with hoppers flanking side elevations. 2-flue, corniced, ashlar wallhead stacks at N bays of side elevations.

INTERIOR: Modernised, with false ceiling inserted at 1st floor.

Statement of Interest

The Christian Institute was opened in June 1887 by Lord Kinnaird. The new (1994) windows conform to the pattern of the previous windows, although not all of these were to the original pattern. The wallhead stack on the Hall Street elevation was also reduced in height recently (1994) to a third of its original height. Although this building is not of great architectural merit, it occupies a prominent position in the town, as well as being designed by an architect of local importance.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56648022

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
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  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
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  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
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  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)