Boundary Wall, 76 High Street, Paisley, Paisley, Renfrewshire

Description

The building is a former drill hall complex (now disused), designed by Thomas Graham Abercrombie in the Scots Baronial style and built around 1899. It comprises a symmetrical 3-storey and attic office and recreation section to the street (southeast) with a large, red brick, shallow segmental-arched roofed drill hall to the rear and a small gabled secondary hall to the southwest, linked to the drill hall by a single storey passage.

The office and recreation area is in the front section of the building, and is built of squared sandstone rubble with red sandstone ashlar margins, with a dentilled cornice and gabled dormers. There is a 3-storey symmetrical central section with slightly advanced, flanking 2-bay gabled outer wings which have corbelled parapets and corner bartizans. The bartizans to the outer bays rise from the first floor and have bellcast roofs. The gables are topped with semi-circular open pediments and the first floor windows have moulded architraves, round-arched pediments and balconies with metal railings.

The central main entrance is set in a keystoned round-arched surround, with a Doric-columned doorpiece with a segmental pediment above, which is broken by a small window frame and round-arched pediment above. The first floor window surrounds above this are keystoned with moulded architraves and floating cornices, and the dormers have thistle apices.

The roof has red slates and a central, leaded Art Nouveau bellcote. Some windows are currently boarded over, with the remainder being predominantly small-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. There are rooflights in the drill hall itself and the small hall to the southwest. The small hall has small round windows to the gables.

Parts of the interior were seen, although some areas were inaccessible due to safety concerns because of the condition of the interior. Some of the individual rooms within the office and recreation section retain their timber panelling and decorative cornicing. There are also some 6-panel timber doors and panelled timber window shutters, along with dog leg staircases with timber banisters and metal balusters. The drill hall to the rear is entered via a pair of segmental-arched openings at the southeast end of the hall, below the viewing platform. The hall has wide, metal A-trusses supporting the roof and a series of smaller rooms are located at the northwest end. There is an enclosed rifle range on the northeast wall. The timber bracketed viewing platform overlooks the drill hall and is entered via a pair of round-arched entrance openings. There are rooms flanking this platform each with a window overlooking the hall. The small, secondary hall to the southwest is timber lined with a timber roof.

There is a low rubble boundary wall to the street surmounted by metal railings, some with thistle baluster heads.

Statement of Interest

The former drill hall at 76 High Street, Paisley is one of the largest and most elaborate in the country. Dating from 1899 and by the Paisley architect Thomas Graham Abercrombie it uses Scots Baronial features such as bartizans, corbelled parapets and pedimented dormers to create an imposing and prominent building. The building's appearance indicates its militaristic function.

There was a previous drill hall on this site, which had been built for the Renfrewshire Militia in 1865, but after a reorganisation in which the militia became a volunteer battalion for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the old premises became inadequate. Funds for a new hall were raised by public subscription and the building was designed by the local architect, Thomas Graham Abercrombie, who was also a volunteer. The 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map, published in 1897, shows the older drill hall and the current drill hall is first depicted on the 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey map, surveyed in 1912 and published in 1913.

A notice in the Dundee Evening Telegraph of 10 August 1899 notes that the volunteers had requested a Lord Roberts to perform the opening ceremony of the drill hall, and this would support the date of the building's completion as 1899. The building continued to be used as a drill hall through the 20th century, firstly by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and latterly by the Territorial Army. It was taken out of use in 1996 and is currently disused (2016).

Thomas Graham Abercrombie (1862-1926) was an architect from Paisley, whose work is found mainly in his home town and the surrounding area. He designed around 130 buildings in Paisley, ranging from villas, tenements, shops, churches and large public buildings. He used a variety of styles for his buildings, including Scots Baronial and Art Nouveau. Abercrombie was also a volunteer, first in the 2nd Renfrewshire Rifles and then in in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and this explains his involvement with the drill hall here, as many drill hall architects were chosen because they were volunteers themselves.

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 Regulations 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. 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 '76 High Street Territorial Army Centre'.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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.