John Cunningham - architect of Greenlaw Town Hall

The Architect and his Architecture

John Cunningham - Biography

Greenlaw Town Hall was designed by local architect John Cunningham. Cunningham was born in Leitholm, Berwickshire in 1799, the son of a builder, and trained as an architect with Thomas Brown, Superintendent of Works in Edinburgh from 1819. He designed Greenlaw Town hall in 1829, commissioned by Sir William Purves Hume Campbell to build the new County Hall and Court House. Around the same time he also built the Castle Inn Hotel and Manse in Greenlaw, both of which remain standing today.

After marrying Agnes Usher, Cunningham emigrated to New York in 1833, but returned to Scotland the following year, apparently because he did not like the climate in America. He left Edinburgh in 1834 to go into partnership with Arthur Hill Holme in Liverpool, and though this partnership did not last long, it was in Liverpool that Cunningham remained for his working life, and designed many of his most famous buildings. Cunningham also had a brief partnership with the famous Scottish Victorian architects the Audsley brothers, while they too were based in Liverpool.

Cunningham returned to Edinburgh in 1873 and produced designs for the Glasgow Public Halls Company, however he died in October of that year before he could complete the designs.

Other Buildings by John Cunningham

Most of John Cunningham’s working life was spent in Liverpool, and it was there that some of his greatest designs were constructed. Unfortunately, many of these were either destroyed by accident or design, or changed beyond recognition over the years. Greenlaw Town Hall arguably stands as the finest remaining example of Cunningham’s architecture.

Cunningham’s buildings include:

In Liverpool and surrounding areas:
Arrow Hall, Birkenhead, Cheshire, 1835
Crown Street Station, Liverpool, 1836
St Anne’s Church, Liverpool, 1836
Holy Trinity Church, Birkenhead, Cheshire, 1837
The Railway Cottages, Crewe, 1842
Christ Church, Crewe, 1843
The Sailor’s Home, Liverpool, 1846
Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, 1849
Orphanage, Ripley, Lancashire, 1856
Upton Manor, Birkenhead, Cheshire, 1857
Mason's Building, Liverpool, 1868
St Mary's Church, Upton, Birkenhead, Cheshire, 1868

In Scotland:
Rowieston Cottage, Marchmont, Berwickshire, c. 1816
County Buildings, Greenlaw, Berwickshire, 1829
Castle Inn Hotel, Greenlaw, Berwickshire, 1835
The Manse, Greenlaw, Berwickshire, 1830’s
Drumpark, Kirkcudbrightshire, 1859
Glasgow Public Halls, Glasgow, 1873
This list is not exhaustive.
The Sailor’s Home is one of a number of Cunningham’s buildings that unfortunately no longer exist. The Home was a philanthropic enterprise, built from the donations of ship owners and merchants to provide sailors with high quality inexpensive lodgings. The foundation stone of this Elizabethan-influenced, tower-like building, was laid by Prince Albert in July 1846, and a commemorative coin struck to mark the occasion. Sadly, the building was destroyed in the 1970’s, and the site since remains a wasteland, used only for billboard advertising.

Cunningham also designed the original Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, considered at the time to be perfect – to some, the best in Europe. Tragically though, in 1933 the Hall was destroyed by a fire that started accidentally in the organ loft. The present Hall, designed by Herbert J Rowse, replaced Cunningham’s in 1939.

Cunningham’s designs for Glasgow’s Public Halls were taken over by associate architects Campbell Douglas & Sellers. It is not known how much of Cunningham’s original design survived in the completed work. Today the building is known as the Mitchell Library and Theatre, or St Andrew’s Halls (adjoining the later Mitchell Library) and is Grade A-Listed.