Description

Later 19th century. Classical with Italianate detailing hotel composed of 4-storey and double height attic L-plan main block with 3-storey and attic wing of kinked plan to SE, giving U-plan with courtyard to rear. 6-bay elevation to George Street, 7-bay elevation to Argyll Square and additional curved bay at corner. Sandstone ashlar to principal elevations, stugged with horizontal channelling at ground and 1st floors of corner bay and flanking bays. Cornices at 1st floor and eaves levels, string courses at 1st and 2nd floor cill levels. String course at 1st floor lintel level tied in with pediments. Consoled eaves cornice, low corniced parapet above terminated with finials. Corner bays raised 1 storey, with double string course and cornice with blocking course at eaves, French domed pavilion roof. Pilasters dividing corner and flanking bays, channelled at ground and 1st floor,

superimposed segmental pediments at 1st floor cill level. Pilasters

extend to eaves of raised corner section, terminating as panelled dies and finished by caps with segmental faces. Windows at 1st 2nd and 3rd floors, and raised portion, all architraved. Bracketted, alternating segmental and triangular pediments to 1st floor windows, bracketted pediments to 1st floor. 2nd floor windows corniced with brackets. Corniced cills with small brackets to 3rd floor. 2-storey mansard roof to main block with single and bipartite dormer windows at both levels.

SW (ARGYLL SQUARE) ELEVATION: entrance doorway central to 6-bay section to right of bay 1. Round-arched, architraved with keystone and flanking Doric columns, capitals and entablature obscured by modern illuminated canopy. Large, closely spaced windows at ground floor, tripartite at outer left and right of 1st floor.

NW (AIRDS PLACE) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical with 2-bay section to outer left slightly advanced, corresponding with pilastered bay adjacent to curved corner bay at right. Doorway at centre, pilastered with decorative scrolled brackets, carved floral swag between; cornice, balustrade and small finials above. Large, closely spaced windows at ground floor, shallow segmental pediment over 3 central windows with tripartite windows to outer bays, at 1st floor level.

REAR ELEVATIONS: near-regular fenestration in granite rubble walls with sandstone dressings, mostly rendered over. Plate glass timber sash and case windows to principal elevations except for modern glazing at ground floor and 4-pane timber sash and case windows to mansard dormers. Larger windows and dormers to rear elevations, 4-pane timber sash and case, with some bipartites. 2-storey light grey-green slated mansard roof to main block, single storey mansard roof to wing with dormer to each bay.

Statement of Interest

A photograph of circa 1890 shows the hotel as originally built. Large window openings at ground floor appear to be original having been used as shopfronts. Gable and panelled wallhead stacks to principal elevations have been removed. The mansard roof is shown as single storey with round-headed dormers (behind parapet at the head of each bay) matching those still existing on dome. The dome was originally

surmounted by a square cupola with arched and balustraded sides and tall pyramidal roof. The similarity of the doorway to Airds Place to the Courthouse (1889) in Albany Street suggests that the architect may have been David Mackintosh, possibly when in partnership as Ross & Mackintosh.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17773439

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

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)