Description

Mid 19th century. Symmetrical, 4-storey, 3-bay Classically-detailed, tenement forming part of terrace with shops at ground floor and prominent shouldered wall-head stack. Yellow sandstone ashlar. Moulded cill course at 1st floor; architraved cill courses beneath 2nd and 3rd floors; deep dentils beneath corniced eaves. Architraved, corniced and consoled windows at 1st floor; lugged, architraved and corniced windows at 2nd floor; lugged, architraved surrounds with flanking scrolled details at base to 3rd floor windows; stone pilaster mullions to bipartite windows.

N (ALBERT PLACE) ELEVATION: later shops at ground. Single windows at centre to 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors; bipartite windows in bays to outer left and right.

S (WEST PRINCES STREET) ELEVATION: 4 bays. Regular fenestration to upper floors with stop-chamfered raised margins. Shops at ground flanking central front door giving access to flats.

4-pane sash and case windows. Grey slate roof; central corniced wallhead stack comprising splayed base, decorative fluting, dentil detailing; corniced ridge stacks to right and left; various circular cans.

INTERIOR: (interior not reviewed 2011 from previous list description of 1996-7) curved stair, cantilevered from 1st floor with ornamental cast-iron balusters from first floor (some modern steel replacements). 4 2-room flats per floor; some with moulded plaster cornices to main room; flats facing Albert Place have plaster ceiling roses.

Statement of Interest

B-group with 7, 9 Albert Place Former Royal Hotel 1-6 Albert Place, 1-5 Watergate, 5-9 West Princes Street and 10-12 Albert Place (see separate listings).

7-9 Albert Place is a good example of a mid 19th century classical tenement with a well-detailed symmetrical façade to Albert Place. The tenement occupies a highly prominent position on Rothesay's sea-front, directly opposite the ferry terminal. It makes a good contribution to the streetscape of one of the principal points of entry into the town as part of a set-piece classical design scheme. The building is comparatively richly detailed for its location within a relatively small town and this is characteristic of the high quality later 19th century developments in Rothesay which was an important holiday destination during this period. The town displays a number of well-detailed buildings, including commercial and residential buildings, particularly in close proximity to the pier and seafront promenade.

Rothesay is one of Scotland's premier seaside resorts, developed primarily during the second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries, and it 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 more often 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 Q77773400

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.

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