Town Hall, Marshill, Alloa

Until the late 19th century Alloa lacked a public hall capable of accommodating a large number of people, so when a director of John Paton Son and Co., John Thomson Paton, offered to pay for a town hall as a gift to the town, burgh leaders agreed to accept the offer: the site they selected was occupied by some large private houses. The new building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in the Renaissance style, built by G. & R. Cousin in ashlar stone at a cost of £18,008 and completed in 1889. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Marshill; the central section of three bays, which projected forward, featured a round headed doorway on the ground floor,…