Description

A B Crombie, 1886-8. 6-bay, T-plan Tudor gothic church hall with gabled end flanked by decorative finial turrets, semi-octagonal piend-roofed entrance bays to sides, transomed and mullioned windows, contemporary service wing to rear. Squared, snecked, and droved red sandstone with polished ashlar dressings. Base course, cill course, eaves course. Trefoil-headed bipartite windows and buttresses dividing bays to side elevations.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: Pinnacle-flanked gable with corner buttresses; octagonal pinnacles with ogee caps. 5-light window to centre; roll moulded pointed arch above with blind traceried stonework in tympanum; flanking buttresses with billeted tops. 3-light window above with traceried ogee arch hoodmould above central light with carved finial. Recessed bays flanking gable with trefoil-headed bipartite windows.

E AND W (SIDE) ELEVATIONS: 6 bays with semi-octagonal entrance turrets to southern-most bays. Stone steps to 2-leaf timber panelled doors (timber-boarded door to E Elevation); stop-chamfered, depressed-arch doorways; ogee-arched hoodmoulds with carved finials, on shield stops; rondels flanking hoodmould; pointed-arch tripartite windows above; all recessed within roll-moulded panel. Regular fenestration to other bays; finialled gable above central window with carved rose motif to gablehead.

SERVICE WING: lower, S facing gable adjoining N gable of main hall; 4-light window with taller central lights. Recessed half-gabled lean-to section to left with single pointed-arch window; recessed piend-roofed section to outer left with timber boarded door.

Square-pane leaded lights. 1 tall decorative clay can above E entrance turret with chevron pattern and crested top; plain coped stack to service wing. Ashlar copes to gables and pediments. Graded grey slate; terracotta ridge tiles. Truncated leaded apron of former ventilator to main ridge.

INTERIOR: red and yellow clay-tiled entrance hall containing stone staircase with barley-twist cast-iron balusters. 5-bay main hall with decorative Tudor-arched beams on consoled corbels. Timber stage to N end with finialled ogee-arched hoodmould. 1st floor gallery at S end with pierced timber balcony supported on brackets; 10-leaf timber panelled folding doors below. Timber panelled exit doors with fanlights at each corner of hall. Timber-boarded panelling to dado.

RETAINING AND BOUNDARY WALL, GATEPIERS AND STEPS: coped, snecked sandstone retaining/boundary wall; ashlar gatepiers to E entrance with triangular caps. Stone steps to E and W entrances.

Statement of Interest

Stands in a prominent position at the junction of St Mary's Street, Annan Road and English Street, and is of great importance to the streetscape. The interior of this hall is particularly well-detailed and preserved. It is the church hall for St Mary's church, which stands opposite. Alan Burgess Crombie was a local architect, who had done some alteration work in St Mary's in 1878. He also designed the Ewart Library and Masonic Hall in Dumfries.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77780018

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6