The Usher Hall

In 1896, Andrew Usher, member of the distilling and brewing family, gifted £100,000 to the City of Edinburgh for the purpose of building a music hall. His wish was that the hall should become and remain a centre for musicians and performers and for the people of Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, Usher died in 1898, never to see his generosity and vision realised. Usher had a great love of music and it is thought that by providing this gift to the city, he hoped for quality music to become within the reach of all classes of society.

Several sites were considered for the new Music Hall and this exhibition includes proposed sites (including one at the Western corner of the Meadows) as well as alternate designs for the building. The actual design of the Usher Hall was decided by competition with architects encouraged to submit designs for a dignified and simple exterior with capacity for 3000 people in the auditorium. Stockdale Harrison & Sons and Howard H. Thomson, FRIBA of Leicester won the competition. This exhibition includes many of the original architectural drawings of the building, as well as detailed sketches of lighting, sculptural stonework designs and ironmongery. This lovely watercolour sketch is Shirley Harrison's impression of the building on completion in 1914.

The stonework on the exterior of the building has sculptural decorations. Classical figures represent 'Musical Inspiration', 'Achievement', 'Municipal Beneficence' (referring to Mr. Usher himself) and 'The Soul of Music' and female figures representing 'The Music of the Sea' and 'The Music of the Woods'. Inside, portrait medallions decorate the corridors depicting heads of musicians, poets and songwriters including such luminaries as Bach, Beethoven, Neil Gow, Tschaikowsky, Robert Burns, Allan Ramsay and Robert Louis Stevenson. On opening, the hall itself was decorated in white and gold to give an impression of simplicity and refinement.

The new hall incorporated several technological advancements. At the end of each corridor, there was a cleaner's room and the hall was to be cleaned throughout by vacuum cleaner. An 'inter-communication telephonic system' was also installed with connection to the National Exchange. And by 'an ingenious device known as the 'Thermostat', the temperature of the hall could be automatically regulated'.

Preparation of the site, including demolition of the former Lothian Road School, and construction of the hall was completed in three years. The estimated cost of the site, building and furnishings was £134,000, of which the organ cost £4000. The first concert at the Usher Hall finally took place on 6th March 1914.

The exhibition also contains contemporary views of the refurbished and extended interior and of concert rehearsals taking place. Images from our Music Library collections of leaflets, brochures, posters and programmes show the diversity of performances and star turns appearing at the Usher Hall over the years. The programmes include several from the Edinburgh International Festival, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Edinburgh University Musical Society's centenary poster and a delightful Edinburgh Youth Orchestra poster.

The selection shows how the design of promotional material has evolved over the past century.