Description
William Railton, 1852; enlargements to rear 1870, 1910 and circa 1985. 2-storey, 3-bay, classical court house with portico and single storey wings on arcaded links; gabled extension to rear with much later addition. Pink and white sandstone ashlar to main building; coursed rubble to 1910 extension, red and pink ashlar to later addition. Dentilled cornice and blocking course to main building, plainer cornicing to wings. Principal pediments with acroteria.
S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: deep central portico: arched bay to each elevation with prominent keystone and architraved voussoirs, on Corinthian piers; cornice surmounting. Adjoining 5 arcaded arched bays to rear, stylistically identical to those on portico; architraved arched doorway within central bay with timber panelled door and semi-circular fanlight; recessed arched windows in bays 2 & 4; later arched window, replacing door to recessed bays 1 & 5 which act as linking bays to wings. To 1st floor of main building, 3-bays to centre: window to each bay with eared architraves, outer bays with cornices; central window flanked by Corinthian pilasters supporting entablature; decorative roundels in frieze, dentil cornice and pediment over central bay with acroteria. Single storey, single bay, projecting gabled wings to flanks: central architraved window with bracketed cornice; continued eaves course forming triangular pediment with acroteria.
W ELEVATION: single storey, 3-bay wing to ground floor right: architraved tripartite window to left bay, gabled central bay with bipartite window and eaves course forming triangular pediment, smaller window to left of right bay; tiny window to extreme left of left return. To 1st floor of main building to rear, 4 elongated windows, similar to left return. Later building adjoining rear left of wing: paired bipartite windows to each floor, band and eaves course.
N (REAR) ELEVATION: 2-storey, 1910 building to left, paired windows to each floor, projecting gabled end to 3rd bay with irregular bays to left return and paired windows to each floor on right return. Later 2-storey building to right with band and eaves course: door to ground floor left, 2 regularly placed windows to each floor; to right return, 2 bipartite windows to each floor.
E ELEVATION: single storey wing to ground floor with 6 regularly placed bays, to 1st floor of main building, 4 elongated bays; 7th bay projecting to ground floor right with blind architraved window to centre and gable pediment, tripartite window to left return; 2-storey gabled building, circa 1910, adjoining to right return, bipartite window to 1st floor left. Stepped rubble wall adjoining to right.
All windows replacement: arched 5 and 7 lying-pane windows with margin panes to ground floor of main elevation. 2-pane timber sash and case window with margin panes to 1st floor of principal elevation and returns. 12 lying-pane timber sash and case windows to wings, 4-pane upper sashes, 8-pane lower sashes. 12-pane timber sash and case windows to wing returns. 8-pane timber sash and case windows to rear extensions with 4-panes to each sash. Piended grey slate roof to main building and rear extensions; corrugated metal roof with ventilation flues to wings. Cast-iron rainwater goods, gutters concealed behind cornice, downpipes draining to side and rear elevations. Coursed ashlar stacks now removed.
INTERIOR: now in use as refurbished offices; some interior details remain, panelled section in former court room, most internal doors and skirting boards, some cornicing.
BOUNDARY WALLS AND RAILINGS: low coursed ashlar walls with matching height squared ashlar piers; painted cast-iron railings with wide spear tops and matching dog bars.
Statement of Special Interest
It was decided in 1846 Kilmarnock should have its own Sheriff substitute and a new building was erected. It was built on the site of the former passenger terminus and ticket office of the Kilmarnock and Troon wagon-way, opened as early as 1812. A plaque on the building commemorates this. Immediately to the east of the building was Kilmarnock House, for many years the town residence of the Boyds after the fire at Dean Castle. The house then became a school until 1935 when it was demolished. Originally, this building was called the "Court House" of Kilmarnock. Local architect William Railton, who was also responsible for the now demolished Kilmarnock Infirmary and the planned layout of John Finnie Street, designed it. The Court House opened in 1852 and the first court was on 5th May, presided over by Sheriff Thomas Anderson, Esq. The Sheriff was in charge of matters in not only Kilmarnock but in "Ardrossan, Beith, Craigie, Dalry, Dreghorn, Dunlop, Fenwick, Galston, Kilburnie, West Kilbride, Kilmaurs, Largs, Loudon, Mauchline, Riccarton, Stevenson and Stewarton". It contained purpose built jail and police cells to the rear and an 1870 addition. The cells were demolished, as was a modern building on the Kilmarnock House site; this is now a car park. The courthouse ceased to function when a new purpose-built building was constructed opposite on the junction of St Marnock Street and Dundonald Road in 1985. It was designed by the PSA and it balances the S elevation of the street, which has the 1975 police station (built to replace the one on the Flesh Market Bridge) to the left and St Marnock's Church to the centre. The old Court House was then converted into the Procurator Fiscal's Office by the PSA and Hay Steel and Partners. Some alterations did occur in the 20th century, the windows to the 1st floor returns of the main building were formerly small and square and the long windows in the arcade were formerly doors. The west wing's central gabled window projected further than it does today and the columned central pediment on the main elevation was for a time flush with the rest of the upper elevation, although now it is returned to its original plan. The building is still in administrative use today.