Description

Allan Stevenson, dated 1888 with mid 20th century addition and possibly incorporating slightly earlier fabric (see Notes). Single storey and attic, Scots Renaissance / Queen Anne style Town Hall composed of broad gabled hall with pedimented windows to front and flying buttresses to N side, pedimented pr front gable, and office rooms and police station recessed to rear and left of entrance; mid 20th century extension left of entrance, to front of Police Station. Red sandstone ashlar with polished ashlar dressings; incipal entrance to left of random rubble to sides and rear. Base course and discontinuous eaves course.

DESCRIPTION: 2-leaf timber panelled front door deeply recessed in roll-moulded, chamfered architrave with open pediment containing blind armorial device; TOWN HALL in raised letters over door. Recessed section behind entrance with round-pedimented window to attic. Queen Anne style scrolled gable recessed to left of entrance with lower 2-storey extension in front filling re-entrant angle. 3-bay gable to hall to right of entrance; tripartite mullioned windows at centre to ground and 1st floors with open pediment to upper window; single windows to outer bays with semicircular pediments; 1888 datestone to gable apex with flanking scrolls and mini round pediment. 4 half-pointed arch shouldered buttresses to N elevation of hall. Blind asymmetrical gable to rear of hall; irregularly fenestrated piend-roofed section to right. Fairly regular fenestration of mullioned windows to S (side) elevation.

Timber sash and case windows with small-pane glazed uppers sashes and plate glass to lower sashes. Ashlar-coped skews. Graded grey Scottish slate with decorative red terracotta ridge tiles.

INTERIOR: stone staircase in entrance hall with barley-twist iron balusters and compartmented ceiling. Hall with balcony, stage and diagonally-laid floor boards. Timber-boarded panelling to dado of public areas including hall and staircase. Some timber panelled interior doors.

Statement of Interest

A well-detailed sandstone building situated in a prominent position on the main road through New Cumnock, next to Martyrs Parish Church (listed separately category B). The town hall is in rather poor condition (2005), but, with the exception of the Police Station extension, is little altered and retains its original windows and slates.

Allan Stevenson was an Ayr-based architect. Little is known about his personal history; his practice was predominantly local to Ayr, but fairly prolific.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77781561

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

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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
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  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
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  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide