From newspaper office to council HQ
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In order to get permission to knock such a central building in Wick down and start again, the Highland Council commissioned chartered architect and heritage consultant Andrew P.K. Wright to look at the local history.
However, in the bid to trace these roots of the council building, Mr Wright had to delve much further into the past.
He noted in his conservation report the curved building opposite the Lloyds TSB bank, known as Stafford Place, could be dated to the first few decades of the 1800s.
The building is one of the oldest surviving structures in the immediate area and the only one to be protected by designation as a category-“C” listed building.
He gives a fascinating insight into the past at Stafford Place in his report.
“For many years it accommodated the home and business interests of William Rae and his son, editor and publisher of the Northern Ensign newspaper which ran from 1850 to the 1920s,” he writes.
“Tangible reminders of this past use can still be found on the façade of the building, which also reveals an association with another long-established Caithness business in the town, that of the corn merchants and seedsmen, Shearer & Miller.
“Stafford Place is the most distinguished of the buildings on the site, and has considerable townscape importance. Given the changes that have occurred it has also a surprising degree of authenticity due to the level of historic fabric surviving throughout its interiors, and these are considered to be worthy of retention.”
For this reason, explained ward manager David Sutherland, it’s not just the outside shell of Stafford Place that will remain the same, many of the historical selling points inside will be incorporated into the new build, such as the elegant wooden staircase that sits in the lobby.
In more recent times Stafford Place can be fondly recalled by many as housing the “Ensign Shop” run by Jean and Donnie Mackay.
The shop supplied a variety of items and was a local book shop, tobacconist, toy and gift shop for Wickers for over three decades.
The couple ran the shop from 1954 until their retirement in 1988.
Further up the road and going back to the turn of the last century, Mr Wright uncovered more history relating to the buildings which are set to become dust this summer.
The building which sits on the corner of the High Street with its façade in the Market Square, and which is scheduled to be demolished as part of the project, accommodated the town’s post office for a relatively short period before the new post office building was erected in 1912 – now a Wetherspoon’s pub.
During the course of the First World War the British Legion took accommodation there until the building was acquired by the Caithness County Council in 1930.
After the post office vacated the site, the ground floor was taken up by Wick Parish Council, marking the start of a long period of occupation by local government which has carried through to the present day.
With the new offices earmarked for the same ground, this link to the past will continue for many years to come and will allow a close relationship between the Highland Council and the people of Wick.
