Forres Town Hall

Forres Town Hall is a municipal structure in the High Street, Forres, Moray, Scotland. The structure, which was the meeting place of Forres Burgh Council, is a Category B listed building.

History

The first municipal building in the town was the Forres Tolbooth in the High Street which was completed in the mid-16th century. It was primarily used as a prison and was rebuilt to a design by William Robertson in the Scottish baronial style in 1839.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the High Street, a masonic hall was erected in around 1790. The hall was then re-modelled by Archibald Simpson in the neoclassical style in 1829 but, after the masonic lodge which had commissioned it got into financial difficulties in the mid-19th century, it was acquired by the local mechanics institute in 1855. The façade of the building was then further enhanced to a design by John Forrest in 1901. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway with a fanlight on the ground floor flanked by pairs of Doric order columns supporting an entablature with triglyphs. There was Venetian window on the first floor flanked by pairs of Ionic order columns supporting an entablature inscribed with the words "Mechanics' Institute". The outer bays were fenestrated with round headed windows on the ground floor and by pedimented sash windows on the first floor.