Sauchie Public Hall, Fairfield Road, Sauchie, Alloa

Sauchie Public Hall

William Kerr designed this public hall in 1911, which was extended in 1925 and further modified with later twentieth-century additions to the rear. It is a single-storey building with attic spaces, arranged on an irregular plan in the Arts and Crafts style.

The building is rendered with sandstone ashlar dressings applied to the principal elevations on Fairfield Road and Mar Place. The roof is covered in red tiles with a swept overhanging eaves and features prominent multi-paned canted windows. The entrance is marked by a shaped gable to the south.

The south elevation facing Fairfield Road contains a centrally positioned entrance porch with a shaped gable, scrolled skewputts and an urn finial. A decorative plaque with embossed lettering inscribed 'SAUCHIE PUBLIC HALL 1911' is set into the gable. The entrance has part-glazed two-leaf replacement timber doors set back within the porch. To the right of the porch is an ogee-roofed square-plan ventilator positioned at the ridge. To the left is a two-bay projecting section (with the outer left bay forming part of the 1925 extension) containing two large thirty-light piended timber-mullioned and transomed windows. The former recessed section to the outer right is now fronted by a flat-roofed extension with a door positioned off-centre left and two windows to the right, plus a window to the right return.

The east elevation on Mar Place features a round-arched entrance positioned off-centre left, with a recessed two-leaf replacement timber door and fanlight. A projecting bay to the outer left contains a large thirty-light piended timber-mullioned and transomed window. Two further windows (one narrow, one wide) are set back to the right. A six-bay section extends to the right, with bays separated by tapered buttresses. This section has breaking eaves timber-mullioned and transomed six-light dormers with lean-to roofs to alternate bays and timber-mullioned and transomed four-light windows between them. A later entrance with a flat cantilevered concrete canopy and uPVC door is positioned in the outer right-hand bay.

The west rear elevation includes a projecting three-bay section (part of the 1925 extension) to the outer right, containing a central breaking-eaves timber-mullioned and transomed six-light window, a timber-mullioned three-light window to the right, and a wide door to the left. A large thirty-light piended timber-mullioned and transomed window and basement entrance are positioned to the left return. A two-bay section (part of the original building) is set back to the left. An adjoining polygonal stairtower with an octagonal roof is positioned to the left. A projecting two-storey piended bay (part of the 1925 additions) extends to the left of the tower. Later twentieth-century additions to the far left include a projecting four-bay section with vertically banded windows to the ground floor and attic of each bay; a four-light window (largely blocked) is set back to the ground floor at the outer left, with a large window above. A later flat-roofed extension extends to the far right.

The north elevation contains a two-bay section to the left, each bay having a window and narrow window towards the centre, with a flat-headed timber-mullioned tripartite dormer centred above. A later twentieth-century section projects to the outer right with a vertically banded ground and attic window to the left. A pyramidal and bellcast roofed square-planned ventilator is positioned at the centre of the roof ridge.

Windows throughout comprise timber casements with multi-paned leaded lights to the large oriel windows and parts of the original and early sections; uPVC replacement windows have been installed to most of the east elevation. The roofs are covered in red tiles with piended profiles (the north end of the original block features a double-pitched gambrel roof), whilst the later additions have flat roofs. A corniced mid-pitch stack stands to the west, topped with circular clay cans.

Interior

The interior retains the original groin-vaulted entrance lobby set back from the main entrance, with doors set into glazed round-arched screens. The east entrance lobby features a green glazed tiled dado surmounted by glazed screens. The main hall has a segmental-arched ceiling divided into panels by foliate plasterwork. The original stage retains timber panelling to the rear with a central keystoned doorway and moulded timber architrave; a fanlight with decorative leaded glazing sits above. Panelled timber doors with leaded glazed upper panels flank the stage.

Boundary

A low sandstone rubble wall defines the boundary to the south and east. Low circular-plan gatepiers mark the entrances.