Documents

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• Type

  Map

  Title

  Map for Pirrie Hall excluding extension to west corner, at Lyle Kirk, Esplanade Building (former Old West Kirk), Campbell Street, Greenock (LB52424)

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600017299)

Summary

Description

The Pirrie Hall, completed in 1925, was built by the Harland and Wolff Shipping Company. It is a single storey, rectangular plan church hall with a gabled outshot and a steeply-pitched slated roof with overhanging eaves. It is constructed in squared and snecked cream sandstone rubble with ashlar margins and has a high base course and triangular skewputts. It is located to the southwest of Old West Kirk.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the extension to the west corner.

The 2-leaf timber entrance doors are set in a roll-moulded and four-centred arched architrave. The windows have ashlar mullions and the larger windows in the gables have ashlar transoms. They are multi-pane and leaded and some have top-opening panes. The rainwater goods are cast iron and the gutters are supported by decorative brackets. The interior of the hall was seen in 2016 and has an elaborate open kingpost timber ceiling with rafters springing from stone corbels.

Statement of Special Interest

The Pirrie Hall was built to provide the congregation of Old West Kirk a space to worship while their mid-19th century church was being relocated here and is an important part of this church's unusual and interesting history. The hall is well-designed and has an elaborate timber hammerbeam roof to its interior.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the extension to the west corner.

Age and Rarity

The church hall was built by the Harland and Wolff Shipping Company to provide the congregation with a space to worship, while waiting for their church to be moved to this site. It was named the Pirrie Hall, after the late Lord Pirrie who was Chairman of Harland and Wolff. The first service was held in the hall on 19 February 1925, four days after the last service was held in the Old West Kirk before it was moved.

Harland and Wolff was formed in 1861 in Belfast by Edward James Harland and Gustav Wilhelm Wolff. William James Pirrie was chairman of the company after Harland died in 1895 and until his death in 1924. The company is famous for building ships for the White Star Line including RMS Titanic. In the early 20th century Harland and Wolff bought shipyards along the Clyde, including Caird and Co.'s shipyard in Greenock.

Churches are a prolific building type in Scotland and many of them have an associated church hall. Church halls are typically additions to existing churches or repurposed buildings, usually built to accommodate a Sunday school and community activities.

The history of the building of Old West Kirk and in particular its relocation stone by stone to its present site, is unusual. The Pirrie Hall is a key part of this history because its construction directly evidences the moving of the Old West Kirk to this location. Because it was designed to be the main place of worship while the kirk was being reconstructed, this church hall is well-detailed, and includes and impressive hammerbeam roof to its interior.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The main interior space is dominated by an elaborate and well-crafted hammerbeam roof and this is of interest in listing terms. The ancillary rooms at the rear of the building have been altered in the later 20th century.

Plan form

The building comprises a large rectangular space, with outshots for the ancillary rooms and an entrance. The plan of the building is not unusual for a church hall.

The outshot at the rear of the building (or west corner) has been extended from the footprint shown on the Ordnance Survey map (published 1940). This extension is not considered to be of special interest in listing terms and is proposed to be excluded from the listing.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

Church halls are typically additions to existing churches and may reference the style of the church. As the Pirrie Hall was built before the church (on this site) it is a freestanding building and slightly unusually its design does not reference the Gothic style of Old West Kirk. Nevertheless the Pirrie Hall is well-detailed with a steeply-pitched slated roof and good stonework, including roll moulded openings.

Setting

The Pirrie Hall forms part of the immediate setting of the Old West Kirk, and this setting is largely unchanged since the church was rebuilt in this location in the 1920s.

Regional variations

There are no known regional variations.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2017).

The building was built by Harland and Wolff and this connection significant to Greenock, an area where shipbuilding was the dominant industry in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Pirrie Hall was previously listed at category A with the Old West Kirk as 'Old West Kirk, Campbell Street, including Church Hall, Boundary Walls and Railings'.

References

Bibliography

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

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