Edinburgh City Chambers
| Edinburgh City Chambers | |
|
Midlothian | |
|---|---|
 Edinburgh City Chambers from the Royal Mile | |
| Type: | city hall |
| Location | |
| Location: | 55°57’1"N, 3°11’25"W |
| City: | Edinburgh |
| History | |
| Built 1760 | |
| By: | John Adam |
| city hall | |
| Information | |
Edinburgh City Chambers in Edinburgh, Midlothian, is the meeting place of the City of Edinburgh Council and its predecessors, Edinburgh Corporation and Edinburgh District Council. It is a Category A listed building.[1]
History
The current building was originally built as the Royal Exchange, which was funded by subscription and commissioned in 1753.[2] It was designed by John Adam, with detail alterations by John Fergus.[1] The building works absorbed many small streets, commonly known in Edinburgh as "closes", that ran north to south across the breadth of the site. The Royal Exchange building sat partially on top of the truncated buildings on the closes that were subsequently blocked-off. These now underground closes were still accessible but were closed for public access for many years until reopened as 'The Real Mary King's Close'.[3] The Exchange was opened by Lord Provost George Drummond in 1760.[4]
The exchange had a coffee shop and shops including a millinery operated by Sibilla Hutton.[5] The exchange never proved popular with the merchants for whom it was built, who persisted in meeting at the Mercat Cross or, rather, where the cross stood before it was removed in 1756.[6] The Town Council took over the north range in 1811 as the City Chambers and by 1893 had bought the whole building.[7]
The City Chambers housed Edinburgh Town Council from 1893, and has served its successors since then.
Architecture
The main building is set back from the High Street behind a quadrangle fronted by a groin-vaulted open arcade screen facing the street. There is a prominent bronze statue of Alexander Taming Bucephalus, by John Steell, in the quadrangle. This was modelled in 1832 but not cast in bronze until 1883.[8] It stood in St Andrew Square until 1916.[9]
The "Stone of Remembrance", within the arcade on the High Street, commemorates residents of the royal burgh who lost their lives in the First World War. The monument was unveiled by Prince Henry on Armistice Day in 1927.[10]
The bronze statue in the north east corner of the quadrangle is of General Stanisław Maczek, a Polish Second World War tank commander who was instrumental in the Allied liberation of France, and who lived in Edinburgh for the last 46 years of his life. The statue, which was unveiled in 2018, is the work of the Polish sculptor, Bronislaw Krzysztof.[11][12]
Most of the interior and all of the main Council Chambers date from 1875 to 1890 and are by the City Architect of the time, Robert Morham. He also built the north-west wing in 1898 and the arched arcade fronting the courtyard in 1901.[13] The east and west wings on the Royal Mile are by the later City Architect Ebenezer James MacRae in the 1930s.[13] The west wing replaced the printworks of William Chambers where Chambers Dictionary was first published.[14]
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The former Royal Exchange, Edinburgh -
Edinburgh City Chambers from Cockburn Street -
Alexander and Bucephalus by John Steell -
The bench and statue of General Stanisław Maczek -
Main staircase -
Council chamber -
Council chamber -
Fireplace in the Council Chamber
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Edinburgh City Chambers) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 City Chambers, 245-249 High Street (even numbers), 253 High Street, 323 High Street, 329 High Street, 2 Warriston's Close and 14 Cockburn Street, Edinburgh (Category A) - Listing detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ "The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club". http://www.oldedinburghclub.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/BOEC-OS/Volume-22.pdf.
- ↑ "Mary King's Close". BBC World Service. https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/btp/edinburgh/edinburgh_audio.shtml.
- ↑ "George Drummond". Royal Bank of Scotland. https://www.rbs.com/heritage/people/george-drummond.html.
- ↑ {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=encyclopaedia }} (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ↑ Grant, James. Old and New Edinburgh. 1. http://www.oldandnewedinburgh.co.uk/volume1/page195.html. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ↑ Edinburgh, 245-329 High Street, City Chambers (Category PLA) - Listing detail (Historic Environment Scotland)
- ↑ Gillon, Jack; McAuley, Paul (2015). Monumental Edinburgh. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445650074. https://books.google.com/books?id=e-sgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT31.
- ↑ Buildings of Scotland:Edinburgh by McWilliam Gifford and Walker
- ↑ "Stone of Remembrance". Edinburgh Guide. https://www.edinburghguide.com/venue/stoneofremembrance.
- ↑ "Statue plan for Polish WW2 general who worked in Capital". Edinburgh Evening news. 12 March 2017. http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/the-meadows/statue-plan-for-polish-ww2-general-who-worked-in-capital-1-4389464.
- ↑ Brown, Graham (24 October 2018). "VIDEO: Statue of war hero General Maczek installed thanks to late Angus peer's memorial campaign" (in en-GB). https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/angus-mearns/750708/video-statue-of-war-hero-general-maczek-installed-thanks-to-late-angus-peers-memorial-campaign/.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Edinburgh City Chambers". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=100964.
- ↑ Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh vol. II p. 223