Description

R S Ingram, 1887. 2-storey, 3-bay T-plan Italianate meeting house with later extension to rear. Cream sandstone ashlar with rusticated ground floor and vermiculated window dressings to ground floor. Coursed rubble to sides and rear, harled later extension. Cill and lintel courses to front with frieze with simple roundels below projecting eaves cornice.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: projecting paired Roman Doric columned porch with cornice (with CONSERVATIVE CLUB in blue lettering) supporting 1st floor balustraded balcony to central bay, round-headed door recessed behind pilasters and moulded reveals within. Round headed window to flanks with projecting keystone and course supporting balustraded cill. 3 projecting aedicule windows to 1st floor: central bay with segmental pediment and balcony, flanking bays comprising outer corbels supporting balustraded cills with Roman Ionic columns and a triangular pediment surmounting.

S ELEVATION: regularly fenestrated 2-storey, 2-bay elevation with single storey flat roofed extension concealing ground floor right bay.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: regularly fenestrated 2-storey extension with former open passageway to ground floor left concealing original elevation.

N ELEVATION: regularly fenestrated 2-storey, 2-bay elevation concealed behind large 2-leaf timber gate at right.

Mostly 4-pane timber sash and case divided into 2 smaller upper panes and 2 extended lower panes. Ground floor front windows: 3-pane timber sash and case divided single arch upper pane with 2 extended lower panes. Piended modern tiled roof with matching ridge tiles. Concealed guttering with painted cast-iron rainwater goods. Brick stacks with projecting stone neck copes, single surviving can to rear extension.

INTERIOR: in use as social club and offices. Some original interior features remain including cornicing, skirting boards and timber and glazing panelled entrance door and surround leading to inner hall.

BOUNDARY WALL: later coursed rock-faced ashlar wall with shaped copes to front, slightly higher brick wall with sloped ashlar copes to sides.

Statement of Interest

The foundation stone for the Conservative Club was laid on the 7th January, 1887 by Miss Finnie of Springhill House. John Finnie, her father, was the coal producer and businessman who helped fund a new thoroughfare for the town. The street was named in his honour. His daughters never married and gifted Springhill to the town. The Club was built when the street was opened up in the late 19th century and is still in use today.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17791802

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record