Description

J B Pirie and A Clyne, 1884-1885. Single storey and attic principal elevation, 2 full storeys to rear, 14-bay terraced comprising 2 4-bay pairs of mirrored cottages and 2 3-bay cottages sub-divided to form 2 dwellings. Rough-faced grey and pink granite with finely finished margins. Dark grey granite base course; ground floor cill course; dressed lintel band course; pink granite deep eaves course, corniced with regularly spaced grey granite navel-like paterae. Pilastered panelled timber doors with glazed panels flanking and letterbox fanlights, some with original stained glass; squat rough-faced pilasters flanking tops of doorways; canted dormers with timber twin dentil cornice, rectangular dormers above doorways with navel paterae to lintels, iron daffodil finials to dormers.

NE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: asymmetrical; Nos 31, 37, 39-41: symmetrical; 2 4-bay pairs of mirrored 2-bay cottages; shallow recessed doorways to 2 centre bays of ground floor with rectangular dormers above, decorative iron finials (not daffodils); canted windows through ground floor forming dormer to attic floor to flanking bays to outer left and right; curved wall to outer left converted to angle at lintel level. Nos 43-45 and 47-49: 2 3-bay cottages sub-divided: doorway to centre of ground floor, with rectangular-dormer above; canted windows through ground floor forming dormers to attic floor in flanking bays to left and right; modern doorway adjoining Nos 43-45 to outer left, linking to Nos 39-41.

NW ELEVATION: gabled; piend-roofed addition adjoining to right of ground floor with window to left return, eaves blocking course; opening in wall above.

SW ELEVATION: gabled wings advanced to centre; additions and alterations; skylights to attic.

SE ELEVATION: gabled.

Predominantly 2-pane timber sash and case windows, some replacement windows. Grey slate roofs with lead ridges. Stone skews. Coped stone gablehead and ridge stacks with predominantly octagonal cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIORS: not seen 1999.

BOUNDARY WALLS: low coped granite wall to NE; copped rubble walls to rear.

Statement of Interest

B-Group with 1-13 Argyll Crescent and 55-93 Argyll Place (see separate listings). Argyll Place was built for the enterprising Aberdeen builder and contractor John Morgan, who was also a close friend of J B Pirie. Like the slightly later Argyll Crescent, Argyll Place is a simply ornamented, well-proportioned terrace. The facade is varied by the different colours of granite, from dark grey to pink, and the contrast between rough-faced and dressed finishes. In addition to the polychrome granite, no two doorways are the same, being single or paired, deeply recessed or relatively shallow. The slightly oversized canted windows from ground to attic floors occur in varying forms in most of their domestic designs. The navel-like paterae appear in the majority of the designs of the partnership where Pirie is involved. The paterae are probably a development of the sunflower (a favourite motif of the Aesthetic Movement) or daffodil, which is used for the iron finials of the dormers of Argyll Place. The doorways flanked by squat pilasters are also typical of Pirie and Clyne's domestic designs, similarly squat columns are used by Alexander Thomson at the side entrance to St. Vincent Street Church, Glasgow, of 1857-8 (see separate listing).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17778451

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)