3-082-173 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Perth Municipal Buildings, destroyed by fire on January 23, 1895. Photo by John Porter, Perth. 'The splendid municipal buildings of Perth, perhaps the finest of their kind in Scotland, were totally destroyed by a fire which broke out early in the morning of Jan. 23. It is suggested that it was caused by sparks being carried from the chimney of the police office. Efforts on the part of the City and County Fire Brigades, aided by a manual worked by one hundred men of the 42nd Royal Highlanders, as well as the private brigade of Messrs. Pullar, were unavailing, and the buildings were burnt to the ground. They were erected in 1879 on the site of the old Town Hall, at a cost of more than £12,000. In the Commissioners' Hall there were valuable oil paintings and busts, and in the Council Chamber some fine stained-glass windows, which have all been destroyed. Fortunately, important documents were placed in the fire-proof Record Room, and all the Registrar's volumes were rescued. The buildings were insured, as were the pictures and windows, but money cannot replace the historic contents of the place, which lie in the black mass of ruins'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.