Rothesay Academy, Academy Road, Rothesay, Bute

Rothesay Academy, built between 1955 and 1959 by D Harvey and A Scott, is a modernist former secondary school situated on an elevated site. It is an L-shaped building comprising several blocks of varying height and design. The construction utilizes a concrete frame with glass and metal curtain walls, complemented by pre-cast concrete panels and a wide range of facings including aggregate, granite, sandstone, and brick, presented in textured and patterned finishes.

The principal, four-storey classroom block is rectangular. It features concrete pilotis (supporting columns) at ground level, continuous horizontal glazing with insulated plastic infill panels between the floors, and textured stone facing on the left and right sides. A projecting concrete grid frames the upper three floors of the northeast (entrance) elevation, creating a jettied portico supported by the pilotis.

To the southwest is a three-storey, square classroom block featuring glazed curtain walls with polished aggregate stone panelling on the ends and angled balconies at the first and second floor levels facing southwest.

Within the re-entrant angle of the L-shape is a single-storey assembly hall and service range. This section is predominantly granite block with a Holoblast panelled wall to the northwest and projecting verandas with narrow metal columns to the northeast. Continuous clerestory glazing is present. Two cusped masonry arches face east, representing a remnant of an earlier school building from circa 1870 that previously occupied the same site.

An east-facing single-storey administration block has a concave terminal faced with red brick and granite.

The windows are predominantly metal pivot glazing. The building has flat roofs, and a tall, fluted concrete chimney stack is centrally located in the re-entrant angle.

The interior plan is largely intact, with practical and well-articulated spaces, though some reconfiguration and infill has been undertaken to communal areas at ground floor level. Timber handrails line the glazed stairwells. Classrooms are arranged back-to-back, separated by shared store-cupboard partitions, and have timber doors with glazed view panels. Corridors feature tripartite fanlights, painted plaster with ceramic tiles, strips of coloured tiling at mid-height, and coloured linoleum flooring. Replacement part-glazed timber doors lead to the assembly hall, which contains boarded timber panelling and a parquet floor. Original clocks and lighting were removed following the school's closure in 2007. Some areas of tiling and parquet flooring are deteriorating.

A coped, granite-faced retaining wall, partially cast-iron-railed, runs along the front (northeast) of the building, accompanied by a cast-iron balustraded stair from Academy Road. A low, coped sandstone wall borders Academy Road. Square-plan sandstone entrance gatepiers from circa 1870 feature battlemented caps and have replacement cast-iron gates.