Description

Dated 1902. Classically-detailed, asymmetrical 4-storey tenement on corner site with shops at ground. 3-bay to Guildford Square (N); 3-bay to Watergate (E) and prominent full height stack to centre of Montague Street elevation. Whitewashed render horizontal channelling at ground; coursed red sandstone ashlar to upper floors; harled at side (W). Raised base course; raised string courses; architraved cills. Roll-moulded surrounds to 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor windows in central bay to E; broken pediments surmounting 3- and 4-light canted bays.

N (MONTAGUE STREET) ELEVATION: shops at ground. Full-height projecting wallhead stack at centre; corniced and architraved plaque centred at 2nd floor inscribed "1902". 3-light canted windows to upper floors in bay to outer right; quadripartite canted windows to upper floors in corner bay to outer left both with broken pediment breaking wallhead.

E (WATERGATE) ELEVATION: replacement timber door recessed at ground in bay to outer left; 2-leaf timber panelled door set in architraved surround in bay to right; tripartite round-arched fanlight (blinded); boarded shop in bays to outer right. Single windows in central bay at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors; 3-light canted windows in bay to outer left.

4- and 6-pane upper, plate glass lower timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof; corniced wallhead stack to N (cans missing); coped rendered apex stack to W, circular cans.

Statement of Interest

1, 3 and 5 Montague Street is a distinctive tenement block on a prominent corner site. The block is well-detailed with prominent turn of the 20th century architectural features such as the full-height deeply corniced wallhead stack and prominent broken pedimented canted bays. 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 Q77770173

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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