Burgh Hall And Reading Room, Rosneath Road, Cove

This is an asymmetrical, two-storey hall and reading room built in 1893 by James Chalmers, situated on Rosneath Road in Cove. The building is designed in a Scots Renaissance style with Jacobethan detailing. It has a T-shaped layout and is constructed from rubble with harl pointing, with red sandstone dressings and margins.

The southwest elevation presents an L-shaped form. To the left is an advanced gable, followed by a round tower entrance set into the re-entrant angle. A lower gable extends to the outer right, and a single-storey, narrow gabled block sits to the outer left. The main, broad gable is two-stage and features tripartite mullioned and transomed windows with leaded upper panes. The principal floor window has a raised louvered sandstone panel above its centre, topped by a broken pediment with strapwork detail. A balcony, supported by substantial consoles and barley-sugar balusters, projects from this gable. The round entrance tower, deeply recessed in the re-entrant angle to the right, has a roll-moulded door surround, a strapwork panel above the door, a small window to the left, a taller window above, and a corbelled sandstone chamfer bridging the gap between the gable and the tower. The tower is topped with an octagonal parapet, which surrounds an elongated orielled dormerhead with a triangular pediment. A conical roof covers the tower. To the right is a lower gabled entrance block with an elaborate pilastered and pedimented doorpiece framing a wide round-arched entrance, and a window on the principal floor. The wide arched entrance recess is decorated with fluted moulding featuring alternating vermiculated, basket-work, and chevron-patterned voussoirs. An armorial plaque above the keystone depicts an elephant carrying a castle, with the inscription "FORTITUDO ET FIDELITAS." Canted side walls, constructed of red glazed brick, incorporate a recessed entrance with a two-leaf panelled door and a large 16-pane fanlight.

The southeast elevation showcases an asymmetrical block that is advanced to the left, with a gable breaking the eaves to the outer right, and a window at ground level in the return. The hall is recessed to the right, with a later rendered, piend-roofed block in the re-entrant angle, and a window to the outer right of the hall.

The windows are timber sash and case windows with four panes and eight panes over plate glass. The roof is covered with red clay tiles and terracotta coping, with sandstone coping to the skews.

The interior includes a wooden stair with strapwork detailing. A tablet in the vestibule commemorates the opening of the "Burgh of Cove and Kilcreggan Public Halls" on 5th May 1895, by Provost Donaldson. A new floor level has been installed in the library.