Hamilton Townhouse

The old Town Hall at New Cross

The first town house in Hamilton, which contained the council chamber, the courthouse and the jail, was built adjoining the old tolbooth at the junction of Castle Street and Palace Grounds Road and completed in 1798.[2][lower-alpha 1] The council considered making alterations to the ageing tolbooth and town house complex in 1860,[2] but in the event decided to augment their facilities with a new public hall, known as the "town hall" at New Cross (now the corner of Duke Street and Quarry Street) in 1861.[3][lower-alpha 2]

After the condition of the town hall at New Cross also deteriorated, civic leaders decided to procure a purpose-built complex which combined the functions of council chamber and public hall in one place: the site they selected was open land at the corner of Cadzow Street and Lower Auchingramomt Road.[4]

The new building, although appearing to be one, was actually built in stages over a 21-year period. The library section of the complex was designed by Alexander Cullen and opened by Andrew Carnegie in 1907.[5] The adjacent townhouse offices were also designed by Alexander Cullen and officially opened by King George V on 9 July 1914.[6] The town hall was designed by Cullen Lochhead and Brown and completed in 1928.[1]

The design involved a symmetrical frontage with seventeen bays facing Cadzow Street with the end bays, each with domed octagonal towers, projecting forward; the central section featured a wide doorway flanked by Doric order columns and pilasters on the ground floor; there was a wrought-iron balcony and a tall round-headed window flanked by Ionic order pilasters on the first floor with a segmental pediment above containing a carved coat of arms.[1] Internally, the principal room was the main public hall with seating capacity for 700 people.[7]

The townhouse was the seat of government of the burgh of Hamilton until the council offices in Almada Street were completed in 1963.[8]

In 2002, each section of the building was closed to enable the building to undergo a regeneration project, costing £9 million, to proceed.[6] This was required to bring the internal facilities to current standards and restore the crumbling stone exterior of the building.[6] The restored facility was made available to the public in August 2004[9] and an official opening by Princess Anne took place in September 2004.[6][10] The library has won two awards: the "Architect Meets Practicality Award" for libraries of significant architectural interest that are practical and user-friendly and the "Mary Finch Accessibility Award" for the library which most addresses access issues from physical through to cultural barriers.[6] The was restoration also recognised with a Scottish Civic Trust commendation.[11]