The Tron Theatre

Tron Theatre, Glasgow
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Tron Theatre, Glasgow

The Glasgow Theatre Club was established in the former Tron St Mary's Church in Glasgow's Trongate area in 1980. Opening as the Tron Theatre Club in 1982 with a membership of 5000, it eventually became a public theatre and in 1989 changed its name to the Tron Theatre. It specialises in contemporary Scottish and international works.

A building of considerable historical importance, the Tron Church was founded as the Collegiate Church of St. Mary and St. Anne in 1484, rebuilt as a city church in 1592 but only the steeple survived a fire which followed a riotous evening by the notorious Hell Fire Club in 1793. A new classical box-shaped church was built somewhat behind and detached from the original tower in 1793-4 to the design of James Adam (1732-94).

Peculiarly, the Caledonian Railway Company routed an underground section of line in the gap between church and tower in the late 19th C. and a Baroque wall was erected in 1900 to hide the air-shaft ventilating the line. The church closed for worship in 1946, was sold to the city in 1950 and became the base for its building department. However, embarrassingly, the building fell into a dilapidated state and by the 1970s the council was actively seeking alternative uses. The building was most recently remodelled by the Edinburgh architects RMJM in 1999.

A plaque commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Glasgow Police Act and he establishment of Britain's first police force, was unveiled on the corner of the Tron Theatre building in 2000.


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