- The Hub (Edinburgh)
The Hub, at the top of
Edinburgh 'sRoyal Mile , is the home of theEdinburgh International Festival , and a central source of information on all theEdinburgh Festival s. Its gothic spire - the highest point in central Edinburgh - towers over the surrounding buildings, including the adjacent castle. The building was designed in collaboration by Edinburgh architect J Gillespie Graham, and the famousgothic revival istAugustus Pugin , and constructed between 1842 and 1845.The inside houses the Hub Cafe; [http://www.hubtickets.co.uk Hub Tickets] , the central box office for the International Festival, which also sells tickets for a wide range of other events; a Main Hall with a capacity of 420, used as a venue for concerts and so on; and two smaller venues, the Glass Room and the Dunard Library, suitable for smaller events.
Prior to the completion of the new
Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood in 2004, the Hub was occasionally used for meetings of theScottish Parliament when the Church of Scotland's General Assembly Hall was unavailable. The Parliament returned to the Hub for two weeks following the collapse of a beam in its debating chamber on2 March 2006 .Previous use as a church
What is now "The Hub" was built for the
Church of Scotland both as a parish church and as a purpose-build General Assembly Hall. It was originally known as the Victoria Hall. TheGeneral Assembly of the Church of Scotland last met here in 1929, when the Church of Scotland united with theUnited Free Church of Scotland , thereafter using the former United Free Church's Assembly Hall onThe Mound (and continuing to this day.)In 1979 the Highland Tolbooth St John's Church building was closed, the congregation uniting with the nearby
Greyfriars Kirk . The congregation had been notable for its services in Gaelic as well as English. The building was then virtually unused until becoming "The Hub".ee also
Old Town, Edinburgh External links
* [http://www.thehub-edinburgh.com The Hub's home page]
* [http://www.benjamintindallarchitects.co.uk/Projects_Pages/edinburgh_and_the_borders.htm A J Youngson on The Hub]
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