Description

James A Morris 1892, post 1898 additions also by Morris. 2-storey, 10-bay and attic, asymmetrical-plan former villa. Sandstone; ashlar dressings; timber eaves.

SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: gabletted entrance to right; 2-leaf timber doors; bipartite windows flanking; single and bipartite windows at 1st floor. Tripartite window at ground to right in advanced gablet; arrowslit to gablet; 2 single windows at 1st floor; narrow single window with swan-neck pediment head; tripartite window at attic. Single window to gable to right; 2 single windows to outer right. Tripartite window at ground floor; quadripartite window at 1st floor to gabled bay to left of entrance; flat-roofed dormer to left of gable at attic; 2-leaf gabled timber entrance to left; domed caps to flanking finials; segmental Dutch gablehead to single window above; 2 pairs of strip windows to left; timber door; steps behind lower walling; 2-leaf timber doors to outer left.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: 13-bay, grouped 4-5-1-1-1-1. Advanced single storey 4 bays to outer left (all gabled, except penultimate bay to left); 2 windows to gable to outer left; glazed door to penultimate bay to left; 3 single windows to linked gabled bays to right; glazed timber door to re-entrant angle to right. 2-storey and attic to 5-bays to right, with canted corner bay: 6 single windows at ground floor, 3 windows at 1st floor, breaking eaves to form segmental pedimented dormer heads to 3 bays to left (bipartite flat-roofed attic dormer to right); tripartite window at ground floor; bipartite window breaking eaves to form finialled pediment head at 1st floor (bipartite flat-roofed dormer aligned above at attic); tripartite window at ground floor, bipartite window at 1st floor (non-aligned) to bay to right; bipartite dormer aligned above at attic; single window at ground; 2 windows at 1st floor to canted corner bay. 2-leaf glazed timber doors with catslide roof link to single storey polygonal plan section to right, 4 pairs of bipartite windows; single pair of bipartite windows to walling to outer right.

SW AND NE ELEVATIONS: not seen 1999.

Predominantly timber sash and case windows. Slated roof; timber eaves; coped ridge and pitch stacks; circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: elaborate dado panels; decorative bowed panels to timber gallery; keystoned austere fireplace.

BOUNDARY WALL: brick wall partially encloses site; modern coped gatepiers to pedestrian entrance.

Statement of Interest

Built as private villa by the renowned local architect JA Morris. Alongside architectural work, including that in Savoy Croft and Racecourse Road, Morris wrote the books "The Brig of Ayr and Something of its Story" in 1912 and "The Auld Toon O'Ayr" in 1928, both published by the Ayr publishers Stephen and Pollock, extolling the town's architectural highlights. The villa is notable for its fine detailing including the segmental plain and Dutch gableheads and the varying gablet and gable heights to the SE elevation.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56626173

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)