The Queens Hall - then, now and in the future
The multi-million pound investment in and around the Queens Hall is part of the council's overall strategy to make the most of Dunoon waterfront's significant development opportunities.
The renovated Queens Hall, coupled with a major road realignment and public realm improvements, will make the waterfront an attractive, vibrant and contemporary space for residents and visitors to enjoy.
Then
The original Queens Hall Pavilion was constructed around 1905 by William Fraser Architect, who lived in Dunoon from 1898 to 1907.
Now
The existing Queens Hall was built in 1959, and although not as grand as its predecessor, the building's architecture has some positive characteristics that are worth acknowledging and respecting.
The future
The Queens Hall occupies a significant position, stop ending the Argyll Street shopping area, facing the Castle Gardens and well connected to a number of important town landmarks or facilities: the Old Pier, The Castle Museum and the passenger ferry terminal.
Approaching Dunoon by the passenger ferry it is evident how significant the Queens Hall sits within the town. The redeveloped Queens Hall will connect the entrance to Argyll Street while introducing a new library, Skills Development Scotland and Visit Scotland facilities, a cafe, fitness suite, a refurbished auditorium and new back of house facilities. The design also includes proposals for proposals improved connection to the immediate townscape through landscape and road realignment proposals.
Around the building the design would see the old marshalling area at the wooden pier, the Skills Development Scotland building and the mini-roundabout at the bottom of Argyll Street being replaced. Taking their place would be a new, improved road system which is aimed at giving higher priority to cyclists and pedestrians accessing both the main shopping area of the town and the Queens Hall itself, as well as improving access for motorists.
There would also be a public events space, with new paving and soft landscaping - trees, shrubs and a wildflower meadow.