Description

Late 19th century (circa 1885?). Pair of 2-storey, 3-bay flatted houses forming symmetrical 6-bay block. Coursed stugged yellow sandstone; polished sandstone dressings. Raised base course; corniced bays at ground; timber bracketed corniced eaves. Shouldered openings at both floors; chamfered reveals; chamfered cills; architraved hoodmoulds above single 1st floor windows; octagonal French-pavilion-towers to outer left and right (cast-iron brattishing to right). Stop-chamfered door surrounds; flanking scrolled detailing at base; round-arched, double-bracketed timber entrance canopies comprising timber fretwork, architraved surrounds, surmounting anthemion details, foliate finials. Harl-pointed rubble at sides.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: steps to 2-leaf timber panelled doors at ground in penultimate bays to outer right (No 14) and left (No 15); dentil detailing beneath plate-glass fanlights; projecting round-arched canopies. Single windows aligned at 1st floor; 3-light canted windows at both floors beneath octagonal towers in bays to outer right and left; 2 tripartite windows at both floors in slightly advanced central bays.

Predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case windows; modern glazing at 1st floor No 14. Grey slate roof; fish-scale slate detailing to French-pavilion-towers; small, slightly bell-cast grey slate piends surmounting advanced central bays. Coped central stack; circular cans.

INTERIORS: not seen 1996.

BOUNDARY WALL: low coped whitewashed wall to Crichton Road; square-plan piers flanking entrance No 15 (missing No 14).

Statement of Interest

Retains architectural interest despite replacement glazing and loss of brattishing. Note the unusual round-arched fretted canopies, octagonal towers, shouldered openings, corniced bays and heavily bracketed eaves. As with the majority of Crichton Road and the symmetrical sea-front terraces below along Mount Stuart Road, intricate detailing adorns otherwise simple forms. Similar to Nos 10 & 11 Crichton Road - lacking in towers but otherwise the same (see separate list entry).

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 Q77769997 Q77770000

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

• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)