THE PLACE
A community hall in the Angus town of Forfar was begun in 1869. Donations came from Peter Reid, although the local council had to pay for the foundations on what was a boggy site at the top of Castle Street and bottom of the Brechin Road, formerly part of the drained Forfar Loch.
Built from sandstone sourced from a local quarry, it was completed in 1871 in a Victorian Gothic style, and as well as being used as the local hall, was also used as a religious building when other churches in the town were being temporarily repaired.
The building suffered a devastating fire in 1941 when being used as an ammunitions store during World War II, when the roof caught fire and completely collapsed, damaging the interior. A temporary roof was put in place and a new roof built after the war.
The east gable faces the street and is prominent due to the crowstepped design and flanking round towers with slated spires. The towers are corbelled out from the gable and supported by buttresses. At ground level are three pointed-arch recesses within. An inscription reads 'ERECTED BY PETER REID JUNr. CONFECTIONER, FORFAR'. The former entrance used to be under here but was blocked when the stage was moved to the east end in the 1950s. Sandstone from a recently demolished mansion was used in the process, the material used for the mansion having come from the same quarry and having been built at the same time as the hall. Above are two pointed-arch windows with a heraldic panel above. A corbelled finial sits on the apex of the gable.
The north elevation features extensions built in the 1950s, a two storey flat-roofed attachment, and a single storey lean-to structure. Both obscure the pointed-arch windows. Both ends are gabled, featuring a decorative panel.
The south elevation mirrors the north but with no extensions. It features full length lancet windows and the flat roofed porch entrance, moved to this side after the stage was moved from the west end to east end.
The west gable to the rear features three storeys of windows. The ground level has a flat roof extension with modern rectangular windows. The first and second storeys feature rectangular sash and case windows with a large bay window in the centre of the first storey with a battlemented top. At the apex of the crowstepped gable is a large round ventilated opening, and two large chimneys are situated at each end of the gable.
The hall continues to be used as the main entertainment venue of the town, it being its largest building. Recent neon signs placed on either side of the eastern end facing the street have not met with approval.
THE PERSON
Peter Reid was born in 1803, the son of a wheel-right of the same name from the rural community of Inverarity, south of Forfar. The family moved to the town where his father set up a grocers shop in Castle Street. Peter Reid eventually took over the running of the shop and started to specialise in confectionery which he made himself in the back shop. Known as Peter Reid Rock, or Forfar Rock, the product would make him a fortune and he would eventually become the town provost.
Despite a reputation for thriftiness he would eventually go on to donate many facilities to the town. Apart from the hall, he also donated a large park to the south of the town named the Reid Park where his statue now stands (it used to be in the middle of Castle Street outside the shop). He also donated seats, urinals, and a convalescent ward in Forfar Infirmary.
Peter Reid died in 1897 almost penniless at the age of 94.