Description

Dated 1832. Classically-detailed 3-storey tenement on corner site with shops at ground; 7 bays to Guildford Square (N); 3-bay to High Street (W); with full-height slightly recessed bowed single bay corner. Painted render to N; raised base course; projecting eaves; architraved surrounds at1st floor windows; projecting cills. Coursed red rubble sandstone to W; droved quoins; droved long and short red sandstone dressings to openings; projecting cills.

N (GUILDFORD SQUARE) ELEVATION: pend entry (No 25) at ground off-set to right of centre; 2 shops to left, single shop to right comprising arcaded columnar cast iron detailing with decorative pendentives. Bipartite windows at 1st and 2nd floors in penultimate bay to outer left; blind windows at both floors in penultimate bay to outer right; regularly fenestrated at both floors in remaining bays. Slightly recessed full-height bow to outer right comprising single windows at all floors.

W (HIGH STREET) ELEVATION: shop at ground. Regularly fenestrated at 1st and 2nd floors (blind window at 2nd floor in bay to outer left).

Predominantly later glazing; some 12-pane timber sash and case windows. Graded grey slate roof; replacement rainwater goods. Coped ridge stack to N, various circular cans; apex stack to E; corniced wallhead stack to W comprising consoled detailing at base, central panel inscribed "Built in 1832 Captain James........", circular cans.

Statement of Interest

21, 23 and 25 Montague Street is an early tenement block on a prominent corner site. The block is well detailed with prominent architectural features such as the distinctive bowed bay and cast-iron shop fronts. The ground floor shop fronts are well detailed with some cast iron columns and pilasters. The use of the slightly recessed bowed bay was influential and is a motif featured in later tenement designs in Rothesay.

Rothesay is one of Scotland's premier seaside resorts, developed primarily during the second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries, and it incorporates an earlier medieval settlement. The town retains a wide range of buildings characteristic of its development as a high status 19th century holiday resort, including a range of fine villas, a Victorian pier and promenade.

The history and development of Rothesay is defined by two major phases. The development of the medieval town, centred on Rothesay Castle, and the later 19th and early 20th century development of the town as a seaside resort. Buildings from this later development, reflect the wealth of the town during its heyday as a tourist destination, and include a range of domestic and commercial architecture of a scale more often found in larger burghs. Both the 19th and early 20th century growth of the town, with a particular flourish during the inter-war period, included areas of reclaimed foreshore, particularly along the coast to the east of the town and around the pier and pleasure gardens.

(List description revised as part of Rothesay listing review 2010-11)

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77770178

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.

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