Description

Robert S. Ingram, 1880. 3-storeys and attic, 8-bay (1,1,4,1,1) French Renaissance commercial building with modern shops and tenement accommodation. Polished red Ballochmyle sandstone ashlar with rusticated piers to wider outer bays. Carved pilasters to central bays, shallow advanced end pavilions. Deep, bracketed main cornice.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: modern shop to 1st & 8th bay; door to upper floors in 2nd & 7th bay, 2 asymmetric shop units in bays 3-6 and most of 2nd bay. Continuous cornice above shop fronts, forming base for giant decorative pilasters. To 1st floor: tripartite window to bays 1 & 8, single window to bays 2 & 7, 4 regular bays to centre within giant decorative panelled pilasters. To 2nd floor, plan identical with mask keystoned arches to central windows and floreate spandrels; apron panels to all windows. To attic, central mansard with 4 segmental dormers; segmental dormer to flanks; to outer bays, high pavilion roof with segmental dormer.

N ELEVATION: blind gable adjoining remaining interior wall of 6 - 14 John Finnie Street (former Operetta House, listed separately).

E (REAR) ELEVATION: ground floor concealed behind former Walker Stable Building on Strand Street. To 1st & 2nd floors, essentially two 5-bay symmetrical adjoined blocks: to outer bays of both floors, large rectangular windows; to 2nd and 4th bays narrower windows; to central bay elongated stair window. Differing pair of attic dormers surmounting.

S ELEVATION: adjoining 30 -38 John Finnie Street.

2 and 4-pane timber sash and case windows to principal elevation, some 12-pane timber sash and case windows to rear; arched sashes to central windows on 2nd floor. Piended grey slate roof, swept over eaves; mansard roof to centre of principal elevation, 4 segmental headed dormers inset; grey slate pavilion roof to outer flanks with segmental headed dormers; piended grey slate roof to rear, canted attic dormers to 2nd and 4th bay with piended roofs and felted cheeks, plainer squared dormers to 1st and 3rd attic bays. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods, concealed gutters to front elevation, down pipes held by cornice above shop fascia. Stack to N gable now missing due to demolished building adjacent; tall yellow brick stack to centre of roofline with many yellow cans; red brick stack to south gable, cans now missing.

INTERIOR: retail units to right and upper floors derelict, recently fire damaged. Original floor plan exists to 1st and 2nd floors, also stairs with larger windows remain to rear.

Statement of Interest

Part of the 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 building 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, most of which survive today. In the past, this building housed the Howard De Walden Photographic Club, William Calderwood & Sons (merchants), Mrs B Douglas' Tearoom and Daniel Wilson's Chemist shop. The upper floors were smaller tenement flats lived in by a painter, hairdresser and a foreman. The building still houses two takeaways, with the rest suffering from fire damage early in 2001.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17791565

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record