22 King Street East, Helensburgh

22 King Street East, Helensburgh

A three-storey Art Deco tenement group designed by Stewart and Paterson in 1936. The building forms an E-plan, with a central block on a north-south axis set back from the street, flanked by two L-plan blocks to left and right. Round-arched keystoned gateways with double courtyards to the rear connect the blocks. The exterior is harled with render and brick dressings. A tall base course runs across the facade, and the third storey is set back slightly, marked by a brick cill course and architraved windows.

The central block (Nos 24, 26 King Street East) presents a wallhead stack to its north-facing King Street elevation, with an advanced chimney wall offset by gablet moulding at second floor level, flanked by windows to each storey. Screen walls link the angles to the flanking L-plan blocks. The east elevation facing the courtyard comprises 15 bays. The centre has five bays with windows to each storey at ground, first and second floors; the first floor window features an apron and sits in a slightly recessed semi-circular-headed panel. Flanking this are slightly advanced entrance and stair bays, each with a doorway set in a broad stepped rendered panel, a tall narrow stair window above, and a lunette with keystone at second floor beneath a half-piended roof. To the right are three bays with windows to each storey, and a two-storey canted window to the outer right with a bipartite window at second floor above. Four bays to the outer left mirror those to the right.

The left L-plan block (Nos 28 King Street East and 13 Charlotte Street) displays a north-facing elevation with seven bays. A doorway to centre is set in a broad slightly advanced stepped rendered panel with a narrow window set in a decorative brick panel above. Three bays flank this with windows at ground, first and second floors. The west elevation features a two-storey canted window to centre and three windows at second floor, joined to a screen wall at the southwest angle. The east elevation has bipartite windows at ground and first floor and a window at second floor, joining the 13 Charlotte Street block at the southeast angle. The east elevation facing Charlotte Street comprises seven bays with a slightly advanced two-storey entrance and stair bay to centre, detailed as the central block, flanked by three bays on each side with windows at ground, first and second floors. The north King Street elevation displays a wallhead stack to centre with an advanced chimney wall and a rendered band at second floor, flanked by windows at each storey.

The right L-plan block (Nos 22 King Street East and Nos 38, 40 Grant Street) has a north-facing elevation mirroring that of 28 King Street East. The west elevation facing Grant Street comprises 11 bays. No. 40 Grant Street occupies six bays to the left with an off-centre right doorway detailed as the 22 King Street East block, two flanking bays with windows at ground, first and second floors, and a two-storey canted window to the outer left with a bipartite window at second floor above. No. 38 Grant Street occupies five bays with an off-centre left doorway detailed as the central block, a two-storey canted window to the left with a bipartite window at second floor above, and three bays to the right with windows at ground, first and second floors, including a first floor window with apron set in a slightly recessed panel.

Some original twelve-pane glazing survives in timber sash and case windows, though a variety of non-traditional window units predominated as of 2009. The roof is of grey slate with coped harled stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present throughout.