Description

Alan Crombie, 1902. 2-storey, 5-bay, square-plan school with early 20th century Baroque details. Near-symmetrical projecting pedimented end bays to Elmbank Drive elevation; boy and girl entrances on side elevations via single storey turreted porches. 5 bays of Elmbank Drive elevation divided by pilaster strips, banded at the 1st floor; all 1st floor windows have attached Ionic columns in substitute for plain stone mullions. Base course (reduces in depth due to gradient of street); band course at 1st floor; cornice at central section. Front portion of school (2 bays deep), red Ballochmyle ashlar sandstone; rear 2 ranges (3 bays deep) harled with red stone quoins and margins.

N (ELMBANK DRIVE) ELEVATION: 5-bay elevation; symmetrical central 3 bays: 3 arched windows at ground with round-arched architraves composed of Ionic pilasters, arch springing from capitals, and keystone, raised cills and apron below glazing; 3 tripartite windows above at 1st floor. Projecting end at right: banded rusticated round arch with emphatic keystone and pedimented hoodmould supported on brackets, formerly entrance door but now window; bipartite window above with Doric pilasters and Ionic attached columns, entablature and segmental pediment. Projecting end at left: bipartite window at ground with banded rusticated architrave, keystones and hoodmould; bipartite window above mirroring that at right end projection; cross finial atop gable pediment (missing from right hand gable).

E ELEVATION: 2-bay range with regular fenestration and entrance within square plan projecting porch with shaped parapet; steps lead up to door; 4-pointed arched entrance door with banded rusticated architrave; single window on left return. 3-bay central range: large bipartite window in right bay at 1st floor with stone mullion and transom; 2 large single windows at ground to left; 2 smaller single windows above at 1st floor; ventilators at basement. End bay: quoins at arrises; tripartite windows at ground and 1st floor with stone mullions.

W ELEVATION: 2-bay range with regular fenestration and entrance disguised in square plan projecting porch with shaped parapet; 4-pointed arched entrance door with banded rusticated architrave; single window on left return. 3-bay range: bipartite window in left bay at 1st floor with stone mullion and transom; tripartite windows, with stone mullions, in central and right bay at ground and 1st floor.

Mix of 6, 8, 10, 15-pane timber sash and case glazing and plate glazing. Slate hipped roofs; straight skews to main elevation gables.

INTERIOR: not seen 2001.

BOUNDARY WALL, GATEPIERS, GATE AND RAILINGS: low squared and snecked rubble wall, with coping and railings, to top of Elmbank Drive and Dick Street; taller wall to bottom of Elmbank Drive. 2 pairs of entrance gates corresponding to boys and girls entrances: banded rustication to shafts with inverted cushion capitals. Cast-iron railings and gates painted red; every alternate railing has a cross finial; every 8 railings arabesque detailing; gates have similar pattern.

Statement of Interest

B-Group with Kilmarnock Academy, Kilmarnock Technical School and Loanhead Primary School. Originally this was the Roman Catholic School affiliated with St Joseph's Church and Convent on Hill Street. Now called St Columba's, this primary school is a plainer design than the neighbouring Kilmarnock Academy and Technical School, although more decoratively treated than Loanhead Primary School. The four schools together form a coherent group of red Ballochmyle stone buildings that demonstrate the high priority given to housing public education at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56642461

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

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  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
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  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
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  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)