[1] Following significant population growth, largely associated with the local dockside activities, the Glasgow Corporation decided, in the early 20th century, that the Kingston area should have a municipal building incorporating a hall for community events, a public library, and a police station.

B. McDonald in the Edwardian Baroque style, built in red sandstone and was officially opened by the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir John Ure Primrose, on 8 September 1904.

[11] The area developed a significant immigrant community in the 1950s and the former president of the UN General Assembly, Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, attended the Pakistan Independence Day celebrations in the building in August 1965.

In May 1974, the National Front politician, John Hughes, led a parade outside the building seeking to provoke picketing workers[13] and, in the following year, a demonstration by trade unionists against fascism led to a skirmish known locally as the "Kingston Halls Police Riot":[14] trade unionists claimed that they were "arrested and beaten" by the police.

[16][17] The building closed as an events venue in 1981,[9] and subsequently became the offices of the Talbot Association, a charity established by Vincent Buchanan to provide accommodation and support to homeless people.