Grand old lady of Tollcross

This picture shows Central Hall at Tollcross in Edinburgh. It was built between 1888 and 1901 by The Edinburgh Methodist Mission under the supervision of the Reverend George Jackson who'd been appointed by the Methodist City Centre Circuit (based at Nicholson Square) to grow the denomination in the west of Edinburgh. Although the first firm contracted to construct the building went bust, work continued with a second company taking over. Unfortunately I've been unable to find any information about the lead architects or designers involved. When opened, the main hall had the amazing capacity of 2000 people - a congregation Edinburgh churches can (sadly) only dream of today. Central Halls were designed by the Methodist Church to be used not only for services but also early cinemas, concert halls and centres for community activities which was a good idea to reach out to the surrounding area. The main hall had its capacity reduced in the 1930s as part of internal restructuring. In addition to the main hall there are smaller meeting rooms and a chapel. You can see from my photo that there are shops at street level; these have been there since construction as a way to raise revenue to support the upkeep of the Central Hall. Canny lot, those Methodists! Due to falling congregation numbers and the enormous cost of having to maintain large historic buildings (the blight of many Scottish denominations), the Methodist circuits and Mission in Edinburgh merged together into one congregation housed at Nicholson Square, itself a fine old building with a rich past. Central Hall was sold in 2011 to Morningside Baptist Church for over a million pounds. Morningside Baptist Church had outgrown its previous premises and were delighted to be able to re-home to such an iconic building already serving Christ. This September, Morningside Baptist Church changed names to 'Central' reflecting the move.