Description

Reginald Fairlie, 1923. Near symmetrical 2-storey, 3-bay Byzantine- style 'nave-and-aisles' church with 2-storey, single bay piended wings flanking entrance; single storey, 8-bay lean-to side-aisles; 10-bay clerestorey; pitched single storey side chapels projecting at SE and SW (creating cruciform-plan); single storey cloister; harled L-plan priest?s house and sacristies adjoining at SE. Predominantly concrete with crushed red sandstone facing (giving appearance of coursed red ashlar); polished dressings. Chamfered plinth; corbelled eaves beneath aisles; corniced eaves at 2nd stage. Recessed round-arched openings at ground comprising stop-chamfered surrounds, angled springers, flush voussoirs, chamfered cills; tripartite round-arched clerestorey openings.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: arcaded entrance comprising single window set in architraved surround at centre; 2-leaf boarded timber doors in bays to left and right; cast-iron hinges; round-arched fanlights; foliate frieze detailing to flanking pilasters. 3 single windows centred in apex at 1st floor (angled springers); raised crucifix aligned above. Single windows at 1st floor set in piended towers to outer left and right.

W (COLUMSHILL STREET) ELEVATION: single windows at ground equally disposed between advanced angled buttresses; tripartite clerestorey openings in 7 bays above; single windows at both floors in projecting tower to outer left. Single windows at ground in projecting side-chapel off-set to right of centre; regularly-disposed buttresses; arcaded corbelling beneath eaves. Single window at ground in recessed bay to outer right; tripartite clerestorey glazing in 3 recessed bays to outer right (sanctuary); corbelled frieze. Single storey solid cloister wall recessed to outer right; round-arched timber panelled door in penultimate bay to outer left; engaged octagonal columnar reveals; cushion-capitals; flanking single windows; narrow slit-openings in remaining 5 bays to right; priest?s house to S; cloister garden to E.

Predominantly leaded glazing; stained windows to S (sanctuary); single stained window centred in N elevation. Graded grey slate roof; raised stone skews; replacement rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: colonnaded 6-bay nave; coursed red ashlar facing (slightly droved); moulded base and capitals to regularly-disposed columns; cushion-capitals to small bipartite aisle openings at ground; ambulatory continuing from aisles around sanctuary. Timber pews in situ; timber panelled balcony to N. Large round-arched opening to sanctuary; dogtooth- and chevron-moulded oak screen; decorative cast-iron gates to flanking side-chapels; timber panelled pulpit to SE. Decorative cast-iron gates to N font chapel; flanking timber panelled doors. Boarded timber roof to nave with kingpost-truss; boarded timber lean-to roof to side-aisles. Short colonnaded passage from E aisle leading to right-angled cloister and adjoining L-plan block (priest?s accommodation to S; sacristies to E).

PRIEST?S HOUSE: timber panelled door in re-entrant angle facing N; roll-moulded door-surround; single windows in remaining bays to W and S. Slate-hung slightly bell-cast eaves; coped ridge stacks to S and E; various circular cans.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: coped ribbon-pointed rubble wall to Columshill Street; regularly-disposed red ashlar block detailing; square-plan red ashlar piers to outer left and right; tiered caps.

Statement of Interest

Completed in 1923 for the Marquess of Bute. Designed to seat approximately 800, St Andrew's gives a rare insight into Fairlie's ability to design on a grand scale. Admiring the monumentality of the likes of Durham and Dunfermline, here Fairlie combined a stark exterior (a quality only enhanced by small windows and large expanses of bare wall) with a spacious, but solid interior. Each component was designed with the whole in mind. Consequently, the mass of quality details - chevrons, dogtooth mouldings, cushion-capitals, round-arched windows and oak pews are in correct proportion with the structure in which they sit. In 1959 Nuttgens referred to St Andrew's as one of Fairlie's '...most satisfactory groups of buildings.' As one of the few examples of his large scale work, combining the monumental with the practical (note the use of concrete and provision of cloister, sacristies and priest's house), this stark but spacious design retains inherent architectural interest.

Rothesay is one of Scotland's premier seaside resorts, developed primarily during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and incorporates an earlier medieval settlement. The town retains a wide range of buildings characteristic of its development as a high status 19th century holiday resort, including a range of fine villas, a Victorian pier and promenade.

The history and development of Rothesay is defined by two major phases. The development of the medieval town, centred on Rothesay Castle, and the later 19th and early 20th century development of the town as a seaside resort. Buildings from this later development, reflect the wealth of the town during its heyday as a tourist destination, and include a range of domestic and commercial architecture of a scale sometimes found in larger burghs. Both the 19th and early 20th century growth of the town, with a particular flourish during the inter-war period, included areas of reclaimed foreshore, particularly along the coast to the east of the town and around the pier and pleasure gardens.

(List description revised as part of Rothesay listing review 2010-11).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata IDs Q17570751 Q2323868

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)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record