Description

Late 19th century. 2-storey and attic, 3-bay public house. Red ashlar; polished to entrance elevation; squared to sides. Base course; banded ground floor with mutuled cornice; main mutuled cornice. Double-lugged architraves to 1st floor window openings.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: round-arched keystoned entrances to outer left and right; 2-leaf timber doors with dentilled cornices fanlights; 2-light central window; fascia over. Central 3-light window at 1st floor; small-paned roundel window to gablet at attic; flanking 2-light windows to outer right and left.

NW ELEVATION: asymmetrical; gabled bay to outer left adjoined by 2-storey block with irregular fenestration; 3-bay block stepped down to outer right, with gabled central bay.

SW ELEVATION: predominantly obscured by additions; gabled with central windows.

SE ELEVATION: gabled bay to outer right, adjoined by 2-storey block; 3-bay block stepped down to outer left, with gabled central bay; irregular fenestration and door openings.

Predominantly 4- and 6-pane upper sashes to timber sash and case and casement windows. Slate roof; stone skews; moulded skewputts; wallhead and gable corniced stacks; circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: early 20th century decorative scheme still largely intact. Timber horseshoe bar counter with terrazzo spittoon at base and intergral water spouts; timber gantry. Decorative timber and red glazed tile fireplaces. Timber panelling; red and black tiled floor. Double timber inner swing doors with leaded and painted art nouveau glasswork; decorative cornice plasterwork. Upper room with timber fireplaces.

Gate: spiked iron gate to left.

Statement of Interest

The Market Inn is a purpose built inn Ayr town centre. The central gable on the entrance elevation is a distinctive feature of the building and with the key-stoned entrances, adds significantly to the streetscape of the area. Of note is the impressive interior art nouveau detailing, especially the fireplaces and leaded door glazing. The pub is unusual in that the interior decoration is in a similar style to that of the exterior.

The Market Inn is thought to have been associated with the cattle market which lay to the immediate South of the building. Establihed in Ayr in 1205, the cattle market moved to this area of Castlehill in 1891, following the expansion of the railway. The Market Inn is depicted in the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map as a Hotel and is likely to have been built together with the cattle market to accommodate the influx of travellers associated with it.

Notes and references updated as part of Public Houses Thematic Review 2007-08.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56626405

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2