Head Post Office, 73 John Finnie Street, Kilmarnock, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire

Entry Name: Head Post Office, 73 John Finnie Street, Kilmarnock

Listing Name: 73 John Finnie Street, Post Office

Listing Date: 3 July 1980

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 380600

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB35913

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200380600

Location: Kilmarnock

County: East Ayrshire

Town: Kilmarnock

Electoral Ward: Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse

Traditional County: Ayrshire

Tagged with: Post office

Description

W T Oldrieve, 1907. 3-storey, 5-bay by 8-bay corner block Post Office with Renaissance details and canted corner. Coursed red Ballochmyle sandstone ashlar. Base course, main mutule cornice and low parapet. Architraved window surrounds. Triangular pediments to 2nd floor bays flanking corner.

E (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: modern polished granite post office frontage in 3 left bays, architraved window to 4th bay; 4 identically treated bays to 1st floor; mutule cornice with 4 windows to 2nd floor, low parapet surmounting. 5th bay leading to canted corner: wide, slightly advanced triangular pedimented bay, Venetian window with column mullions and broken base pediment to ground floor; tripartite window with columned mullions to 1st floor; mutule cornice leading to recessed swagged oculi with projecting keystone, within broken base triangular pediment. Canted angle bay: architraved bipartite window to ground floor, shorter bipartite window to 1st floor with open segmental pediment with broken base; aedicule window to 2nd floor with carved E R with crown between, raised and decorated parapet surmounting.

N ELEVATION: 1st bay adjoining canted corner to left: wide, slightly advanced triangular pedimented bay, Venetian window with column mullions and broken base pediment to ground floor; tripartite window with columned mullions to 1st floor; mutule cornice leading to recessed swagged oculi with projecting keystone, within broken base triangular pediment. Former tripartite entrance to 2nd & 3rd bays: outer door bays now in-filled to form windows, original window between, 3 smaller windows above each, architraved window to bays 4 & 5, door with rectangular fanlight to 6th bay, architraved window to bays 7 & 8. Architraved windows to each bay of 1st floor, tripartite window to 4th bay. Mutule cornice leading to 2nd floor, regularly placed smaller windows to each bay, parapet surmounting.

S ELEVATION: adjoining George Tannahill & Sons, 75 & 77 John Finnie Street (listed separately)

W (REAR) ELEVATION: adjoining much later 2-storey Nelson Street sorting office.

12 & 8-pane timber sash and case windows. 16-pane timber fixed oculus windows to pedimented bays; fixed single pane arched windows to ground floor tripartite windows. Piended grey slate roof. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods; concealed gutters and partially concealed downpipes.

INTERIOR: ground floor remodelled to provide modern entrance and shop interior; administration offices / sorting offices not seen, 2001.

Statement of Interest

Part of John Finnie Street A-Group. John Finnie Street is nearly ? mile long and was built around 1864. It provided a grand thoroughfare for the town with the focal point to the north being the railway station. Business and commerce spread to this street and rows of high quality, 3-storey or more, red sandstone buildings were constructed. The ground floors were given over to retail, offices and accommodation were above. The street dominated the lower, narrower streets in Kilmarnock that were filled with traditional buildings. The street's architect was William Railton, who went on to design the Kilmarnock Infirmary (now demolished) and the surveyor was Robert Blackwood. Not long after the street was built, Archibald Adamson noted the number of handsome buildings. This building was designed specifically to be a Post Office. The architect, William Thomas Oldrieve FSI FSAScot (1853 - 1922), was the Principal Architect and Surveyor for Scotland. He had been appointed Architect for all Provincial Post Offices in 1898. Previously he had been with the Office of Works in Edinburgh (1881); Chief Architect's Office, London Office of Works; in charge of Manchester District Office of Works and Chief Assistant to the Principal Architect to the Department of Works in England. The building is still in use as Kilmarnock's main Post Office.

External Links

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