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Summary

Description

Cornelius Armour, 1931-2. This 2-storey, 3- x 7-bay red sandstone former Co-operative building is situated on a corner site and has a canted entrance. There are black marble surrounds to the display windows on the ground floor ground and key-stoned architraves to upper storey windows. There is small cornice above the ground floor and a dentilled cornice and blocking course. The windows are largely boarded, but glazing bars for central plate glass with side light multi-pane windows remain. The condition of the building prevented an assessment of the interior, but it is likely that there are few surviving interior features. The building is currently unoccupied (2013).

Statement of Special Interest

The former Co-operative building on the corner of East Main Street and Ranoldcoup Road in Darvel was built in 1931-2 for the Darvel Industrial Co-operative Society by the Society's in-house Glasgow architect Cornelius Armour. Situated at a prominent corner site in the town and constructed from local red sandstone, the building has a wealth of carefully considered architectural detailing. The level of detail and use of high quality materials in the street elevation of the building are unusual in surviving shops of this date. It is a good example of high quality Co-operative Society design from the 1930s.

On the ground floor, the shop front openings are of particular note as there is extensive use of moulded black marble around the principal openings. In the opening to the far left panels of veined and coloured marble flank the entrance. This use of moulded and coloured marble in shop fronts is particularly rare. The stonework details to the building include elaborate surrounds to the first floor windows with their mouldings and keystones and there is also a dentilled cornice. A circular motif used in the upper storey is carefully replicated in one of the timber doors. The details are classical but are stylised for the period and are typical of 1920s and 30s architecture. By using a modern design for its shop and offices here, the Co-operative Society was promoting its contemporary relevance.

The building originally housed shops at the ground floor with offices above. It is now unoccupied (2013).

Scotland has a long and notable association with the Co-operative movement and the Movement is a key part of Scotland's retail history. Whilst the Movement is normally cited as beginning in Rochdale in England in 1844, Lindsay Lennie, in Scotland's Shops (see above) notes that at least 14 societies in Scotland pre-date the 1844 establishment in Rochdale. During the latter part of the 19th century the movement gathered momentum and by the beginning of the 20th century, there were shops in nearly town and city in the country. These were usually local societies, often beginning as groups of local industry workers and they were a key part of working class society. In Darvel, the Darvel Industrial Co-operative Society began in 1840 with the lace makers in the town. The Co-operative Society established factories which supplied their shops and the general philosophy was to provide wholesale and retail systems which would provide their members with good quality but low cost products. Members received a 'dividend' or a share of the profits.

It is notable that the Co-operative Societies tended to use local architects for their premises and a number of their buildings from the late 19th century up until the Second World War were high quality designs using a style fashionable for the period. For a Society whose aim was to provide low cost goods for the working classes it is interesting that they invested in quality and innovation in their architecture. The 1936 St Cuthbert's Society premises in Bread Street, Edinburgh (listed at category A, now converted to a hotel) had the first use of a glass curtain wall to be built in Scotland.

The Co-operative movement continued to grow during the 20th century. Although it declined in the 1990s with a number of shop closures, the Co-operative Society Group still exists.

Cornelius Horsburgh Armour was one of the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society architects and was based in Glasgow. He designed the category A listed former Luma Lamp factory in Glasgow, as well as other Co-operative buildings. He died in 1955.

List description updated, (2013).

References

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