21 Jardine Street. Lanarkshire Regimental Drill Hall, Glasgow, Hillhead, Glasgow

Description

Designed by Robert Alexander Bryden and built in 1894 the building is a large 2-storey and basement, irregular 8-bay, with Tudor style detailing Regimental Drill Hall Headquarters sited on falling ground opposite an open green square. It is predominantly built in red brick with Tudor half-timber detailing on the upper floor on dentil brackets wrapped around the principal (east) entrance and north elevation. The principal elevation has a pair of central gables flanking a corbelled chimney stack with a dated regimental crest inscribed 'REV'. To the right is a raised entrance door with a roll-moulded and corniced doorpiece. The north elevation has a broad central castellated brick section rising above the roofline with a decorative mullioned and transomed 12-light window. The rear elevation is 3-storey and largely symmetrical, with a pair of plainer central gablets and a double height canted bay to the right. The window openings are predominantly tall and narrow, the ground floor windows in the front elevation are shallow-arched with shaped brick mouldings.

There are boarded timber doors and timber sash and case windows with two panes to the lower sashes. There are steeply pitched slate roofs with clay ridge tiles and cast iron rainwater goods.

The interior of the building was seen in 2015 and it has a good decorative scheme. There is a large entrance hall, with walls tiled to dado height and a broad stairway with decorative cast iron bannisters. On the first floor the Sergeant's Mess is timber panelled, with fluted and capitalled columnettes and niches, with an integral timber service canteen and two decorative stone fire surrounds with tiled inserts. The panelling extends to ceiling height with a decorative dentilled cornice under a combed ceiling. On the top floor is a large open hall with timber floors, dado panelling, curved metal roof trusses and decorative metal ventilation grilles. There is also an attic stair with fine barley twist bannisters leading to a viewing platform with timber bannisters overlooking the hall.

Statement of Interest

The Lanarkshire Regimental Headquarters at Jardine Street is a good example of a drill hall headquarters building, designed by Robert Alexander Bryden, who was also a Major in the Battalion Lanarkshire Regiment. The building has not been significantly altered and for its building type it is in an unusual brick and Tudor style, with very good detailing, such as the shaped brick windows surrounds, the half timbering and the decorative chimney stacks. The interior is of a very good quality, including timber panelled officers' mess, decorative iron work to the staircase as well as an internal hall on the upper floor.

21 Jardine Street was built in 1894 and falls within the most prolific period of drill hall construction in Scotland from 1880 to 1910. It is first shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map (surveyed 1894, published 1897), which also shows a separate large drill hall, detached from but immediately to the rear of the main headquarters building. Unusually the subsequent Ordnance Survey map, surveyed only 15 years later in 1909, shows that the drill hall has been rebuilt slightly further to the rear. This may have been because the original hall was destroyed or damaged, or perhaps the first drill hall was only a temporary structure and the decision was taken to construct a more permanent drill hall, retaining the first for use in the interim. The Post Office Directory of 1890 notes that there was a drill hall on the neighbouring Tillie Street in 1890, so it may be that the drill hall predates the headquarters building, as Tillie Street provides access to the rear of the Jardine Street site where the drill hall was located. An aerial photograph dated 1937 (Canmore ID 171765) showing this second drill hall building as a large building with a low pitched roof. The separate drill hall has since been demolished and there is a later 20th century utilitarian office building in its place.

It was often the case that drill hall architects were in the forces and linked to the buildings they designed. Robert Alexander Bryden (1841-1906) was a Glasgow based architect who throughout the latter half of the 19th century largely worked with the Glasgow practice of Clerk and Bell. Bryden had become a Major in the 1st Lanarkshire Volunteers in 1865 and was therefore well placed to design the new headquarters for his own regiment. This is the only known drill hall or headquarters building he designed in his career.

In the late 1850s there was concern in the British Government about the Army's ability to defend both the home nation as well as the Empire. Britain's military defences were stretched and resources to defend Britain needed to be found. One solution was to create 'Volunteer Forces', a reserve of men who volunteered for part-time military training similar to that of the regular army and who could therefore help to defend Britain if the need arose.

In 1859 the Rifle Volunteer Corps was formed and the Volunteer Act of 1863 provided more regulation on how the volunteer forces were run and it set out the standards for drills and a requirement for annual inspections. Most purpose-built drill halls constructed at this time were paid for by a major local landowner, the subscriptions of volunteers, local fundraising efforts or a combination of all three. The Regulation of the Forces Act 1871 (known as the Cardwell Reforms after the Secretary of State for War, Edward Cardwell) gave forces the legal right to acquire land to build a drill hall and more purpose-built drill halls began to be constructed after this date. The largest period of drill hall construction, aided by government grants, took place between 1880 and 1910 and the Jardine Street Headquarters building falls into this time of construction. The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (known as the Haldane Reforms after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Haldane) came into force in 1908 and the various Volunteer Units were consolidated to form the Territorial Force. The construction of drill halls largely ceased during the First World War and in 1920 the Territorial Force became the Territorial Army.

In the 20th century changes in warfare and weaponry made many of the earlier drill halls redundant and subject to demolition or change to a new use. Around 344 drill halls are believed to have been built in Scotland of which 182 are thought to survive today, although few remain in their original use. Drill halls are an important part of our social and military history. They tell us much about the development of warfare and the history of defending our country. They also, unusually for a nationwide building programme, were not standardised and were often designed by local architects in a variety of styles and they also have a part to play in the history of our communities.

The requirements for drill halls were basic – a large covered open space to train and drill as well as a place for the secure storage of weapons. The vast majority of drill halls were modest utilitarian structures. Most drill halls conformed to the pattern of an administrative block containing offices and the armoury to store weapons along with a caretaker or drill instructors accommodation, usually facing the street. To the rear would be the drill hall itself. Occasionally more extensive accommodation was required, such as for battalion headquarters where interior rifle ranges, libraries, billiards rooms, lecture theatres and bars could all be included.

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2016 as part of the Drill Halls Listing Review 2015-16. Previously listed as '21 Jardine Street, Lanarkshire Regimental Drill Hall'.

External Links

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