Description

Earlier 19th century. Classically-detailed, rectangular-plan 4-storey hotel on corner site with shop, post office and licensed premises at ground; 3 bays to Watergate (W); 3 bays to Albert Place (N); 3 bays to West Princes Street (S); recessed bowed corners. Painted render and sandstone rubble at rear; painted margins. Raised base course; raised cill, corniced eaves. Architraved and corniced windows at 1st and 2nd floors to N and W, pilastered reveals to 3rd floor windows to N and W; raised margins, projecting cills to S.

W (WATERGATE) PRINCIPAL ELEVATION: later shopfront to left (N) and later timber panelled door at ground off-set to right of centre with fanlight over; flanked by decorative cast-iron brackets supporting large overhanging canopy. Post Office at ground to left of entrance; licensed premises to right. Single windows in all bays at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors; slightly recessed full-height bows to outer left and right comprising single windows at all floors.

N (ALBERT PLACE) SIDE ELEVATION: modern shops at ground. Single windows in all bays at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors.

S (WEST PRINCES STREET) REAR ELEVATION: licensed premises at ground; single windows in all bays at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors.

Predominantly later windows. Grey slate roof; corniced wallhead stacks to N and W; various circular cans.

Statement of Interest

B-group with Former Royal Hotel 1-6 Albert Place, 7-9 Albert Place, 5-9 West Princes Street and 10-12 Albert Place (see separate listings). 1-5 Watergate is a well detailed hotel in a classical style and it occupies a highly prominent corner position on the Rothesay sea-front, directly opposite the ferry terminal. The architectural design includes details such as the corniced windows and eaves courses, and is characteristic of the development of Rothesay as an important holiday location from the early 19th century. The building exhibits an architectural style which is more common in a larger urban setting, its use in Rothesay is indicative of the burgh at this period, where it utilised the fasions of larger urban cities to give status to the burgh.

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 Q77770222

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)