Description

James A Morris, 1896; with later alterations including those in 1898 and 1906-9. 2-storey and attic, asymmetric-plan, large detached villa (now hotel) on corner site. Stugged and snecked red sandstone; polished ashlar dressings.

SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: steps to iron and glass entrance porch; 3-light arched leaded light above; hoodmould over; 2 single windows at 1st floor; hoodmould to relieving arch above; detailed consoles support gabled bay rising through eaves; 3-light window; roundel to gablehead. 3-light mullioned and transomed window to bay to left; open segmental pediment above; thistle to opening; single window at 1st floor; single gabled window at attic. Pilaster strips flank 2 windows at ground and 1st floor to adjoining bay; 2 window platformed attic gable above. Crenellated advanced ground floor penultimate bay to left; 3-light mullioned and transomed window; mullioned window to return to right; 3-light window aligned above at 1st floor; 2 window platformed attic gable above. Timber door at 1st stage; single windows at 2nd and 3rd stages of later square-plan tower to outer left. 2 single windows at ground floor, single window at 1st floor to bay to right of entrance; single windows at ground and 1st floor to adjacent bay to right; pierced roundel above. Blank gable to single storey advanced penultimate bay to right; circular conical-roofed turret bay to re-entrant angle to left, glazed timber door at ground; 2-light leaded window above; single window above; keyhole opening beneath turret eaves; windows to right obscured by foliage. Later, lower 2-storey wing to outer right.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: single mullioned window to outer right at ground floor. Canted penultimate bay to right; 3-light windows to principal face, 2-light windows to canted sides (glazed timber door and letterbox fanlight to inner canted face, split window aligned above); single gabled dormer at attic. Canted adjoining bay; 2-light windows to principal face, single windows to canted sides (glazed timber door and small-paned square fanlight above to outer canted bay). 6-light window to single storey crenellated bowed bay; glazed timber door to left; 2 bipartite and 1 single window aligned above at 1st floor; catslide dormer at attic. Lower 2-storey bays to left; 2 single windows at ground, bipartite window at 1st floor breaking eaves; single windows at ground and 1st floor to central bay (additional narrow window to right at ground floor); regular fenestration at ground and 1st floor to canted bay to left (mullioned 1st floor window); timber door links to single storey adjoining wing; 2-light window to outer left; timber entrance door to right; 2-light window to outer right.

NE AND SW ELEVATIONS: not seen 1999.

Predominantly plate glass timber sash and case windows with 4- and 6-panes to upper sashes. Slate roof; rooflights; stone skews; corniced pitched stacks; circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: tiled floors; timber staircase; timber panelled rooms; half-timbered ceiling; timber fireplaces; painted plasterworked ceiling.

GARDEN OUTHOUSE, GATEPIERS, GATE, POSTBOX AND BOUNDARY WALL: timber, red-tiled garden outhouse with pilaster strips; 2-pairs of square-plan gatepiers to Racecourse Road elevation (heads to principal entrance with lantern lights; wallmounted postbox between; red square-plan sandstone gatepiers to Savoy Park; corniced, segmental-headed pedimented garden entrance; iron gate; coped boundary wall encloses site.

Statement of Interest

Extended in 1898 and again in 1906-9. Formerly the Red House, built for the MP, C L Orr-Ewing. Alongside architectural work, including that in Savoy Croft and Burns Statue Square, Morris wrote the books "The Brig of Ayr and Something of its Story" in 1912 and "The Auld Toon O'Ayr" in 1928, both published by the Ayr publishers Stephen and Pollock, extolling the town's architectural highlights.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17837444

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6