The former Caldwell Halls on Glasgow Road had several other names. Officially, the Caldwell Institute, it was also the Stonefield Parish Church Hall and had the nickname, the Coffin Halls.
I recently tracked down more firm information as to when they were demolished and found it was in early June, 1967.
The unusual building, situated beside the former Rosendale tenement caused a bit of a drama upon demolition. On the first Sunday in June, 1967, workmen got a bit of a surprise when the demolition didn’t go as planned.
The front wall facing out to Glasgow Road (on the left in the photo) was being pulled inwards during demolition but to the work crew’s horror, it started to topple over to the opposite side, ,took a sudden swing and fell with an almighty crash on to Glasgow Road.
Luckily, in those days of very little health and safety, there was no passing vehicles or pedestrians. Glasgow Road however, had to be closed off until the demolition material could be cleared.
The Caldwell Hall sat exactly where the A725 EK Expressway southern bridge abutment is today.