Description

Bruce & Hay, 1910 (School); Pugin & Pugin, 1882 (Presbytery). 5-storey and basement, rectangular-plan primary school. Bull-faced red sandstone; red sandstone ashlar dressings. Base course; cill courses at basement, 1st and 3rd floors; aprons beneath 2nd floor windows; castellated parapet. Gabled buttresses delineate 2-bay central entrance and 3-bay outer entrances; central entrance rises at 4th floor to form kneeled gable; arrow slits within; hoodmoulded quatrefoil; cross at apex; flanking pinnacles. Square-headed window openings with relieving arches at ground floor; segmental-arched windows at 1st floor; arcaded segmental-arched windows at central and outer entrance bays, arcaded square-headed openings to remaining bays at 2nd and 3rd floors.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 18-bay, near-symmetrical facade. Central gabled entrance; volutes above stepped consoles; cross at apex; quatrefoil; segmental arch over 2-leaf timber door and deep fanlight; single window to left at ground floor; regular fenestration at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, rising to form kneeled gable (see above). Identical doorpieces (see above) to outer right and left bays at ground floor; 2 single windows at ground floor to inner bays; regular fenestration at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors. Regular fenestration at ground, 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors to remaining bays.

Timber windows (boarded at ground floor); iron grills (predominantly) at 1st floor; roof unseen 1999.

PRESBYTERY: Pugin & Pugin, 1882. 3-storey and attic, 3-bay, rectangular-plan presbytery. Bull-faced sandstone with ashlar dressings. Base course; band and cill courses at ground, 1st and 2nd floors; banded parapet.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: central arched keystoned entrance; timber door; single window aligned above at 1st floor; tripartite opening at 2nd floor, central crocketted niche, flanking windows, hoodmould; rising to form gable; round-traceried hoodmoulded window within; cross finial at apex. Bipartite windows flanking at ground, 1st and 2nd floors; single windows at attic to outer right and left.

Boarded, plate glass and 4-pane timber sash and case windows. Slate roof; corner wallhead stacks.

INTERIORS: both not seen 1999.

GATEPIERS, GATES, RAILINGS AND BOUNDARY WALL: polygonal-plan stone gatepiers and iron gatepiers to right of presbytery; single and 2-leaf iron gates; iron railings atop boundary wall to short section; higher boundary wall to right (remains of demolished Pugin & Pugin church); linking boundary wall of school to presbytery comprises hoodmoulded entrance, bipartite windows flanking, larger single window to right; high brick boundary wall enclosing school playground to Portman Street.

Statement of Interest

Good example of school building on a palazzo scale. Of particular interest is its borrowing of motifs from the earlier Pugin & Pugin presbytery, for example the distinctive coursing of the stonework, relieving arches and central entrance bay rising to form a distinctive gable. Also of interest are the upper-storey playgrounds and general fine detailing throughout. The architects Bruce & Hay were also responsible for the now demolished Renaissance-detailed Burgh Court in Stanley Street. Pugin & Pugin church demolished, its stained glass now in Ayr's Cathedral of the Good Shepherd.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Our Lady and St Margaret's Primary School at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7110749

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

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)