Rothesay Academy, Academy Road, Rothesay, Bute

D Harvey and A Scott, 1955-9. 3- and 4- storey, L-plan, Modernist, former secondary school on elevated site. Concrete frame with glass and metal curtain-walls and pre-cast concrete panels; wide variety of facings including aggregate, granite, sandstone and brick; textured and patterned finishes.

Principal, 4-storey, rectangular-plan classroom block: concrete pilotis to ground; continous, horizontal glazing with insulated plastic infill panels set between storeys; textured stone facing to outer left and right. Projecting concrete grid framing upper three floors to NE (entrance elevation), jettied out on pilotis to form portico below.

3-storey, square-plan, practical classroom block to SW: glazed curtain walls with polished aggregate stone panelling to ends; angled balconies at first and second floor to SW.

Single storey assembly hall and service range within re-entrant angle: predominantly granite block with Holoblast panelled wall to NW; projecting verandas with narrow metal columns to NE; continuous clerestorey glazing. 2 cusped masonry arches to E (remnant from earlier 1870 school on same site).

Single storey administration block outshot to E: red-brick facing with granite facing to concave terminal.

Predominantly metal pivot glazing. Flat roofs. Tall, fluted concrete chimney stack centred in L-plan re-entrant angle.

INTERIOR: largely intact plan; practical and well-articulated with some reconfiguration and infill to communal spaces at ground floor level. Timber handrails to stairs set in glazed stairwells. Classrooms with back-to-back arrangement, linked by shared store-cupboard partitions; timber classroom doors with glazed view-panels. Corridors: tripartite fanlights set in walls; painted plaster with ceramic tiles; strips of coloured tiling at mid-height; coloured linoleum flooring. Replacement part-glazed timber doors to assembly hall: boarded timber panelling and parquet floor. Balustraded stairs to dining room. 1950s clocks and lighting removed following closure in 2007. Tiled areas and parquet floors deteriorating.

RETAINING WALL, BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: coped, granite-faced, part cast-iron-railed retaining wall to front (NE); cast-iron balustraded stair from Academy Road. Low, coped sandstone wall to Academy Road. Square-plan, sandstone entrance gatepiers (1870); battlemented caps; replacement cast-iron gates.