IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Middleton Street, ALEXANDRIA, G83 0DG

The picture was taken from near the junction with Gilmour Street (Image). The trees at the far end of the street are in the Christie Park (Image). For a photograph taken at roughly the same place, looking in the opposite direction, see Image

Located on the corner of Hill Street and Middleton Street this former police station built in the 1930s had become a local landmark in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire. After closing its doors to the public in 2013 it fell into disrepair. It has since been transformed into six new homes by Bingham Homes.

taken looking south at the junction of Gilmour street and Middleton street

See Image for the main description. The features shown in the present photograph are located above the main entrance. For a closer look at the carved foliage, see Image Click on the end-note title for other images of the building.

See Image for the main description of the building as a whole, and Image for a wider view of the area in which the detail shown in the present photograph occurs. Around the foliage, it is possible to make out the vestiges of some lettering ("VALE", "[S]COTCH", "[GI]RLS" and "[S]OCIETY", referring to the Scotch Girls' Friendly Society); the building was originally designated an Institute for Working Girls, complementing the men-only Image nearby. Click on the end-note title for other pictures of the building.

See Image for the main description, and for the whole building. The present picture shows details above the main entrance (on the southern side). At the top is the Gilmour crest and motto: "Nil penna sed usus" ("not the pen, but its use"); below that are details relating to use of the building as a Masonic Temple from 1921 onwards: "Lodge Bonhill and Alexandria St Andrew's Royal Arch 1826—1921 Masonic Temple № 321." Click on the end-note title for other pictures.

The photo was taken on a Doors Open Day in West Dunbartonshire; the Masonic Temple was one of the buildings I was shown around. On that occasion, I was able to pick up some material about the history of the building, some of which is summarized below (I also had recommended to me, by the hosts, the viewpoint from which I took this photo; for a view in a much wider context, see Image). Click on the end-note title for other views of the building and its architectural details. Its construction began in 1888, and was funded by the industrialist William Ewing Gilmour, who was prominent in the local textiles industry; the architect was J A Campbell. It was originally built as The Institute for Working Girls, complementing a similar Ewing Gilmour Institute (which was for men) at the other end of the street: Image; the street was renamed Gilmour Street, in honour of the benefactor, but it had formerly been called Fountain Street. The building was presented to the Scots Girls' Friendly Society upon its completion in 1891. That society later disbanded, and, when it became available in 1921, the building was acquired for use as a Masonic Temple. Above the main entrance, an inscription, flanked by the dates 1826 and 1921, reads: Lodge Bonhill and Alexandria St Andrew's Royal Arch Masonic Temple No 321 These are obviously later additions, but above them are what must be original features of the building: the Clan Gilmour crest, with their motto "Nil penna sed usus", meaning "not the quill/pen, but its use" – compare Image For details from that part of the building, see Image The building also features stained glass windows by J W Guthrie of Glasgow. Interior decorations include paintings by Harrington Mann; the first of these to be completed was "Duties and Industries of Women" (which is clearly linked with the original use of the building). The same artist also painted several cloister panels which illustrate Scottish pastoral ballads.

See Image for more on the building. I took the present photograph because there was an opportunity to show it without parked cars in front of it.

Bus beneath the sign in Alexandria at the junction of Main Street and Bank Street.

Great attention to detail is evident throughout the building, even down to the individual drain-heads; this is one of several on the southern side, and, like the others, it records the year when construction began. See Image for more information, and for a view of the building as a whole. Click on the end-note title for other images.