Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

ARGYLE STREET, ROTHESAY PAVILION INCLUDING HOUSE AT REAR AND BOUNDARY WALLLB40452

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
02/02/1988
Supplementary Information Updated
21/04/2005
Local Authority
Argyll And Bute
Planning Authority
Argyll And Bute
Burgh
Rothesay
NGR
NS 08372 65068
Coordinates
208372, 665068

Description

James Carrick, dated 1938 (competition won 1936). Asymmetrical, 2-storey and basement International Style entertainment pavilion with fully-glazed bowed wing to outer left cantilevered over recessed bowed, glazed vestibule; cantilevered canopy over 2nd floor terrace. Light buff-coloured synthetic stone (ashlar appearance); raised base, string and eaves courses; flat roofs. Overhanging terrace at 1st floor above central entrance; cubic stair projection off-set to right of centre; sheer wall above glazed row (ballroom) running full-width behind; raised red letters depicting "Pavilion" centred within. 2-storey, flat-roofed house to rear (converted for use as nursery late 20th century); harled; corniced eaves; projecting cills; similar glazing.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 2-leaf part-glazed timber doors centred at ground; flanking side lights; replacement fanlight. Single windows at ground in 5 bays to right of entrance; full-width glazed sun lounge at 1st floor; projecting stair tower comprising 2-leaf timber door at ground, tall stair window above in penultimate bay to outer right; bipartite basement window in bay to outer right; tripartite windows at 1st and 2nd floors. Single windows at ground in 2 bays to left of entrance; cantilevered terrace above; bowed vestibule at ground in bay to outer left (set of 3 2-leaf glazed timber doors to N; multi-paned plate-glass fanlights); bowed 1st floor cafe above; surmounting cantilevered canopy.

Modern horizontal glazing (part opaque at ground); flat roof. Large tapering flag-pole piercing overhanging terrace to front.

INTERIOR: refurbished. Set of 3 2-leaf glazed timber vestibule doors, flanking side-lights; quadripartite fanlights; bowed timber kiosk beyond, flanking single doors. Angular stairs to 1st floor; terrazzo-coloured floor comprising abstract geometric designs; large ballroom, long proscenium opening. 1st floor cafe in bow to outer left.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION HOUSE: part-glazed timber door centred at ground; flanking stylised pilasters; single windows in bays to left and right; cantilevered canopy above; single window centred at 1st floor. NE (SIDE) ELEVATION: single windows centred at both floors. Flat roof; coped central stack; circular can.

BOUNDARY WALL: low coped curved random rubble boundary wall to Argyle Street.

Statement of Special Interest

With the beginning of a new century and holiday-makers now free to travel with their cars, sea-side resorts were forced to do as much as possible to make themselves attractive. Thus, the emergence of leisure pavilions such as those in Dunoon, Prestwick, Gourock and Rothesay. Here, with a dance hall forming the bulk of the structure, glazing rows and cantilevered canopies, Carrick designed a pavilion which offered "...the Glasgow holidaymaker an experience at the forefront of style in Scotland" (McKean p86). Today, the building remains intact despite recent redecoration - note the early use of concealed electric lighting and air-conditioning, large expanses of curtain-wall glazing, flat roofs and roof walks. The promenade roof behind the upper balcony was finished in Lavacrete to give a dry surface immediately after rain. The original interior scheme was specifically designed to give the effect of a sunrise. Walker refers to this as "International Style Modernism at its best with little if anything of its period to equal it in Scotland" (p159). His photograph shows the main stair prior to redecoration with stepped, blocked bannisters and enclosed lights on each newel (now gone). Category changed from B to A, 21 April 2005 in recognition of this building being one of the most significant pleasure buildings of the style in the country, surviving in remarkably intact condition.

Rothesay is one of Scotland's premier seaside resorts, developed primarily during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and 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 sometimes 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).

References

Bibliography

BUILDING NEWS Vol 59 (1890) p216; THE BUILDER Vol158 (1940) p394; B Edwards SCOTTISH SEASIDE TOWNS (1986) p115-120; C McKean THE SCOTTISH THIRTIES (1987) p86; F Walker & F Sinclair NORTH CLYDE ESTUARY: AN ILLUSTRATED ARCHITECTURAL GUIDE (1992) p159; A B D A plans (Municipal Pavilion for Rothesay, Town Council, 1936).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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