Glasgow City Halls

Glasgow's City Halls and Old Fruitmarket is a concert hall and former market located on Candleriggs, in the Merchant City, Glasgow, Scotland.

The City Halls are part of a market complex designed by John Carrick in 1882, but the grand hall itself was designed by George Murray and opened in 1841. It was the first hall suitable for large gatherings and concerts to be built in the City and played host to the likes of Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth and William Ewart Gladstone. From its early days it hosted a wide variety of popular and classical concerts including those by touring groups such as Louis-Antoine Jullien's celebrated London-based orchestra and Charles Halle's orchestra from Manchester. Glasgow's first regular orchestral subscription concert series, played by an orchestra managed by the Glasgow Choral Union, was given in the grand hall from 1874 until the opening of the much larger St Andrew's Hall in 1877. Arthur Sullivan was its conductor for two seasons from 1875-77. The Old Fruitmarket directly adjoins the grand hall and was a functioning market until the 1970s after which it was in occasional use for jazz and folk music events. The adjoining buildings were home to bustling produce markets such as the fresh fruit and flower market and the cheese market.

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