1862 and 1871, so was familiar with the design issues needed to create a fully functional observatory. Architectural Features Honeyman's design incorporates a number of interesting architectural features. The building consists of a three-storey tower, reaching a height of almost 20 metres, and topped by a copper-plated domed roof, within which the telescope is housed. The dome is reached via a short flight of stairs at the beginning and end and a ramped walkway between, designed this way to limit the number of steps required to reach the top of the building and to facilitate the easier passage of equipment throughout. The entrance foyer features a large stained-glass window dedicated to the late 18th century astronomer William Herschel plus further depictions in stained glass of earlier astronomers Johannes Kepler and Galileo. The building was designed to incorporate the use of borrowed light at every opportunity. Large windows in the exterior of the building at first floor level feed into the room at that height. The exterior of the floor above is edged with round port-hole style windows. These widen on the inside, thus projecting the light from outside into the room, taking as much advantage of natural light as possible. Stone carving work throughout the building was carried out by Glasgow sculptor James Young and decorative ironwork was made by MacFarlanes at their Saracen Foundry in Glasgow. MacFarlanes were responsible for a great deal of the surviving 19th Century wrought ironworks throughout the city and even further afield – for example their work adorns the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The total cost of building Coats Observatory was £3097, 17 shillings and sixpence. Memorial Stone Ceremony Work commenced on the observatory in late 1881. With the construction of the tower well underway it was decided to commemorate the new building with the laying of a memorial stone, a duty performed by Thomas Coats on 8 March 1882 at an event attended by a number of local dignitaries, including the Provost, Magistrates and Town Council and members of the PPI. The stone was accompanied by a 'time capsule' containing newspapers, small portraits of Mr & Mrs Coats and some coins of the realm. A presentation of a silver trowel was made to Thomas Coats as a memento of the day and he is recorded as saying that he hoped the observatory would "prove a stimulus to interest the rising generation of the