Town House, 35-37 Broad Street, Stirling

Town House, 35-37 Broad Street, Stirling

This is a classical tolbooth with tower, built in sandstone ashlar with graded grey slate roofing. It was constructed between 1703 and 1705 by master mason Harry Livingstone and John Christie Wright, working from a draft design by Sir William Bruce of Kinross. The building has a shallow U-plan. In 1785, Gideon Gray extended the north front eastwards by three bays. Between 1806 and 1811, Richard Crichton added a courthouse and jail to the south. The building was converted by Richard Murphy Architects between 1999 and 2001 into a music-focused art venue, with the courtroom functioning as a theatre, the robing room as a bar, and the old council chamber as a restaurant.

The north elevation on Broad Street is three storeys and six bays, built in ashlar with a base course, cill bands at the first and second floors, and an eaves band. The windows have lugged and moulded architraves. The entrance is positioned to the right at ground level and features a six-pane fanlight, with windows in the remaining bays to the left and regular fenestration above. All windows are timber sash and case with twelve-pane glazing. The roof carries a gablehead stack and ridge stack.

The northwest elevation contains a six-stage tower in ashlar with projecting quoins and rubble to the west at ground level. A string course runs at the first and second stages, extending from the cill band in the bays to the left. At ground level, a round-headed arch with decorative surround on the north side provides access to a wide stair leading to the first floor. Immediately above is an empty round-headed niche set within a moulded rectangular surround, with a further moulded window above. Additional windows light two stages above. Timber clock-faces sit in square moulded stone frames in each face of the tower below the parapet. At the top stage, a moulded cornice is topped with an iron-railed parapet enclosing a timber belfry with a crested swept leaded ogival roof. Louvered openings appear in each side of the belfry, with four lucarnes to the roof and a weathercock finial.

The west elevation facing Jail Wynd is eight bays (grouped 3-3-2) and three storeys in ashlar, with rubble in three bays to the left. Three windows at ground level to the left have regular fenestration above. The three bays to the right are raised, with a cill band at the first floor. A new 2001 entrance in a vault and small openings appear at ground level, with large windows in each bay above; semicircular windows at the second floor are set in recessed round-arched panels. Two bays to the right are raised again, forming the gable of the St John Street elevation. A recessed entrance to the left at ground level sits in an arched doorpiece, with windows in each floor above and a window at the centre of the top floor. Windows are timber sash and case, with twelve-pane glazing in the outer sections and twenty-four-pane glazing to the centre.

The south elevation on St John Street is three storeys and four bays at the upper floors (five bays at ground) in ashlar. It has a base course, cill band at the first floor, a string course below the eaves, and an eaves band with projecting cills. A two-leaf door to the centre at ground level is set in a recessed round-arched opening with a multi-pane semicircular fanlight. Windows in the outer bays are set in recessed round-arched panels, with regular fenestration above. All windows are timber sash and case with twelve-pane glazing.

The interior retains substantial 18th and 19th century decoration. The ground floor includes a narrow vaulted strong room with cupboards closed by iron doors and a small vaulted cell. The tower stair features a quadripartite plaster vault and a boarded inner door in a round-arched, roll-moulded surround. The westmost main room displays an early 18th century interior scheme, with panelled walls and a roll-moulded stone chimneypiece framed by fluted Ionic pilasters; a painted landscape overmantel sits above. The eastern room has a panelled dado, chimneypiece, and late 18th century scheme. An early 19th century stair leads to the second floor. A small room in the tower contains a roll-moulded chimneypiece. The first floor courtroom in the early 19th century addition is lit by three tall windows in round-arched recesses and features a Gibbsian door surround dating to circa 1865. The ground floor of the courthouse contains vaulted rooms serving as a guard house and cells. The first floor justiciary court room has a high coved ceiling. Two further cells are located in the attic.