Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

109-121 (ODD NOS) TRONGATE AND 9 NEW WYND, INCLUDING BRITANNIA PANOPTICON MUSIC HALLLB32774

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
22/03/1977
Local Authority
Glasgow
Planning Authority
Glasgow
Burgh
Glasgow
NGR
NS 59452 64918
Coordinates
259452, 664918

Description

Gildard & MacFarlane architects, dated 1857 on frieze; rear staircase 1869, Hugh Barclay; further alterations to cinema usage 1904-10 by Boswell & McIntyre. 4-storey, 9-bay. Classical. Ashar. Exceptionally rare former music hall with important surviving interior.

PRINCIPAL (TRONGATE) ELEVATION: modern shop front to ground. 1st floor rusticated with vermiculated keystones. Openings round-arched with pilasters (banded at 1st floor, swagged to 2nd floor) dividing bays. Moulded archivolts. 3rd floor windows grouped 5-4-6 with centre group slightly advanced and pedimented. Decorated frieze and cornice over each floor, deep mutuled eaves cornice.

NEW WYND ELEVATION: 1st 2 bays advanced and detailed as principal elevation. Remaining bays ashlar.

Timber sash and case windows with plate-glass glazing. Fixed-pane plate-glass windows to 3rd floor. Slate roofs.

INTERIOR: notable survival of music hall with many exceptional features. Auditorium with U-plan timber gallery with bench seating supported by slender cast iron columns. Simple timber proscenium and high stage. Ceiling coombed with decorative plasterwork with flat main section with applied timber decoration in latticework pattern to centre.

Statement of Special Interest

The former Britannia Music Hall is an exceptionally rare survival of a music hall and it is the earliest and sole surviving example of its type in Scotland and it has a claim to be the earliest in the UK. It has a high quality classical exterior with a profusion of detailing and it contains an important early music hall auditorium.

Dated 1857, it was speculatively built as warehousing and probably incorporated an earlier building on the site, but this proposed use was quickly abandoned and the architects Gildard & MacFarlane turned it into a music hall instead.

The first and second floors opened as a variety hall called Campbell's Music Salon in 1857. It was renamed the Britannia in 1859, and again in 1887 as Hubner's Animatograph. Rebuilt as the Panopticon 1906, the name changed to the Tron Cinema in 1922 before reverting to the Panopticon again until closure in 1938. It began showing moving pictures in August 1896 and was used for cine-variety from around 1910. Many famous performers have starred here, including Stan Laurel who made his debut here in 1906.

A great number of 19th century music halls were destroyed by fire. A combination of the extensive use of timber in the interiors as well as candlelight or gas lighting meant that they were susceptible.

Influxes of workers often living in poor conditions would find escapism in music halls with their mixture of songs, comedy and speciality acts such as acrobats or magicians. Often music halls were attached to a public house (there was a public house on the ground floor of the Britannia) and smoking and drinking during the performance was accepted unlike the separate bars found in established theatres.

The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Trust is planning to restore and reopen the hall to the public.

References from previous list description: Gomme and Walker 1987, p.109, 322. Information by courtesy of Buildings of Scotland Research Unit.

References and Notes updated as part of Cinemas Thematic Study 2007-08.

List description updated as part of the Theatres Thematic Study 2010.

References

Bibliography

2nd edition Ordnance Survey map (1892-7); Williamson et al, The Buildings of Scotland - Glasgow (1990) p188. Judith Bowers, Stan Laurel and other Stars of the Panopticon The Story of the Britannia Music Hall (2007); The Theatres Trust www.theatrestrust.org.uk (accessed 16 March 2009); www.britanniapanopticon.org (accessed 23 March 2009); Cinema Theatre Association www.scottishcinemas.org.uk (accessed 12 February 2008).

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.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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