Cultural Quarter Walking Tours

Moray

The Cultural Quarter is one of eight Moray Growth Deal projects. The Cultural Quarter will restore and renew two prominent historic listed buildings in the heart of Elgin, Moray’s main town.  Celebrating Moray’s heritage and vibrant cultural scene, new fit for purpose facilities with enhanced programming will provide a catalyst for cultural regeneration, and helping to realise the Moray Growth Deal vision of Moray as a destination of choice.

The project is being delivered in phases between 2025 and 2031:

Phase One Elgin Town Hall:
Renewal, extension and updated of the iconic B listed modernist building, Moray’s largest performance space.

Phase Two Grant Lodge:
Saving significant B listed civic building, situated in the centre of Cooper Park and Elgin’s culture and heritage core.

About the buildings:

Elgin Town Hall (1957-61) is an impressive, modernist Town Hall and civic space which has been successfully operated by Elgin Town Hall for the Community since 2018. The Charity continuously works to transform Elgin Town Hall into a profitable, vibrant and fun centre for the community of Moray and the Town Hall hosts a range of concerts and performances in the main auditorium in addition to a busy rota of regular meetings, events and activities.  The success of the town hall in recent years means that the current configuration of the building is no longer able to accommodate the volume or range of activity required to satisfy customer and audience demand. This building will be updated, extended and enhanced to create and accessible regional hub for performing arts, creative industries and the community with the services and staffing structure to match as part of the growth deal. 

LDN Architects are leading the designs to significantly update Elgin Town Hall – vastly improving the main auditorium, creating a modern new foyer, a new extension hosting a studio performance space and new rehearsal/recording spaces and a new bar. 

Grant Lodge has been vacant since 2003 and is on the Historic Environment Scotland ‘Buildings at Risk Register’. Plans are now underway to bring the building back into use as part of the Moray Growth Deal, creating a high quality heritage venue which is accessible and open to the public, a celebration of Moray’s rich heritage and a first point of call for local people and visitors to the region. 

Grant Lodge was commissioned by Sir James Grant for his aunt, Lady Innes, and constructed between 1766 and 1769. It was designed by renowned Scottish Architect Robert Adam, although it underwent significant alterations in the early 19th Century. Grant Lodge is B listed and is a significant part of local, regional and national history as the location of the last Clan Uprising in Scotland, a gift to the people of Elgin (including the grounds which are now Cooper Park) in 1903, and deeply loved by the community as the former public library. Its place in heart of the community, and location at the gateway to the park and the Cathedral/Heritage quarter make it an ideal opportunity to become the central focus of a reinvigorated Cultural Quarter in Elgin.

Page \ Park Architects are leading the designs to restore and extend Grant Lodge, providing a range of new heritage spaces with contemporary interventions for hospitality, events, tourism and recreation. 

Tour times:

Tour 1 - 11am to 12:30pm - SOLD OUT 

Tour 2 - 1pm to 2:30pm 

Tour 3 - 3pm to 4:30pm

Tours will begin at Grant Lodge.

Book tickets via 'Moray Doors Open Day' on Eventbrite here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/moray-doors-open-day-69092051383 

Facilities

• Disabled Access
• Disabled WC
• WC
• Parking
• Limited Access
• Not Accessible

Additional Access Information

Elgin Library has a wheelchair accessible toilet.  This is a walking tour so there will not always be access to facilities.

Elgin Library is wheelchair accessible.  Grant Lodge is not accessible. Entry will be to the main foyer area only which is ramped.

The route between the two buildings should be accessible but there may be areas where it is uneven.

There are toilet facilities in Elgin Library (near Grant Lodge).