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Summary

Description

Gabriel Andrew, 1895 - 1897; extended 1898 & 1907. 2 & 3-storey, multi-bayed, renaissance detail, bonded warehouse on gushet. Yellow brick with ashlar dressings and rusticated ground floor. Taller, pilastered, towered pavilions flanking lower sections.

NE (CROFT STREET) ELEVATION: to rusticated ground floor, paired doors to centre with 8 arched bays to flanks, 1st two bays to left advanced; continuous cornice above. To 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor: 15 bays divided 1-6-1-6-1; Single pavilion bays with giant, channelled pilasters, 1 stilted segmental-headed window to 1st floors; flat-headed in 2nd floor; pilastered and arcaded to former attic bays; triangular pediment surmounting. Remaining bays: pilastered and arcaded segmental-headed windows in 1st floor; flat-headed in 2nd floor flanked by paired pilasters; later 3rd floor matching 2nd floor. Main modillion cornice, blocking course.

N ELEVATION: 3-storey, 3-bay gushet section linking Strand and Croft Street elevations: to central bay, tower with giant channelled pilasters and pilaster strips forming panels, paired arched windows to rusticated ground floor; blind elevation to 4 upper bays, escutcheon with Kilmarnock coat of arms to mid level of 2nd and 3rd storey; bell-cast roof with large flag pole surmounting. To arched flanking bays, rusticated ground floor with 3 slit windows; to 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor, 3 regularly placed small windows divided by full-height brick pilasters; stone cornice with balustraded parapet surmounting.

SW AND NW (STRAND STREET) ELEVATION: long curving elevation divided 1-6-1-6-1-8-1-8-1-8-1-8, mostly 3-storey, but 4-storey to 1st eight bays and pavilions. Ground floor, arched windows to most but carriage pend to 2nd pavilion bay with large squared opening to left and door to restaurant to right; modern shop fronts to 24 south bays. To upper floors, single pavilion bays with giant, channelled pilasters; 1 stilted segmental-headed window to 1st floor; flat-headed in 2nd floor; pilastered and arcaded to former attic bays; triangular pediment surmounting, but replaced by bell-cast roof to 3rd & 7th pavilion; flag pole to 5th and 7th pavilion. Remaining bays: pilastered and arcaded segmental-headed windows in 1st floor; flat-headed in 2nd floor flanked by paired pilasters; later 3rd floor matching 2nd floor for first 6 bays. Main modillion cornice, blocking course. To rear, regular blind fenestration with projecting sills.

SE ELEVATION: adjoining red sandstone ashlar office building of similar date and design (listed separately).

No windows as such to original design, but high barred openings with plate glass behind and 2/3 bricked. Iron-barred, glazed windows to arched bays on N elevation. Modern arched windows to ground floor restaurant on Strand Street. Modern plate glass shop windows to retail units to S of Strand Street elevation with some replacement 2-pane windows to upper storey. Glazed barred windows to gushet. Piended grey slate roof to all with tall bell-cast roofs to tower bays; aluminium and lead ridging, flashing and valleys. Cast-iron rainwater goods, gutters concealed by cornice, downpipes attached to end bays between towers. No stacks.

INTERIOR: now converted into retail units at Strand Street; modern interiors but some iron girders supporting structure of building still visible.

Statement of Special Interest

Part of B-Group with No.15 Strand Street. During the latter stages of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, local whisky makers Johnnie Walker & Sons greatly expanded their operation within Kilmarnock's town centre. The Croft Street / Strand Street area became almost entirely devoted to Walker & Sons, housing bonded warehouses, sheds, engine boilers and stacks, offices, a cooperage and a bottle washing department. A single storey brick structure opposite (now a shop) is believed to have been a stable for the horses used by the firm. As with the other Walker buildings of this era, it was designed by Gabriel Andrew, a native of Kilmarnock and an important local architect. He also drew plans for the Co-operative Society but primarily he was retained as the Walker architect. He moved his practice into Walker's Croft Street offices after they were constructed, to his plans. The sandstone detail to the head of the pend is very like details he later uses in Bank Street (numbers 37 & 58-60). Andrew designed offices at 37 Bank Street for Walker & Sons, and moved his practice there from Croft Street. Very little survives of the former Walker complex within the town centre, the entire operation having been moved to Hill Street; the former Whisky Bonds remain (now What Everyone Wants and several restaurants) and the red sandstone offices adjacent (listed separately) but all the other industrial buildings, bar the "stable", have been now demolished. A statue of Johnnie Walker stands opposite the south (What Every One Wants) elevation, adjacent to the Laigh Kirk, overlooking the once thriving whisky bond. Upgraded to Category B, 7 October 1987.

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