Winter Gardens, Rothesay, Bute

The Winter Gardens in Rothesay, Bute, is a circular domed winter garden built in 1923-4 by Walter MacFarlane & Co. (Saracen Foundry, Glasgow), in collaboration with Alex Stephen, the burgh surveyor. It incorporates a Victorian octagonal-plan bandstand, which was later adapted for use as a cinema in the late 20th century.

The building has a circular plan with a diameter of 25 metres. The design features square-plan towers flanking the entrance, a bowed loggia to the south, and a squared north end housing a restaurant and featuring a raised octagonal tower incorporating the former bandstand, with single-storey piended pavilions on either side. The exterior walls are panelled with vertical glazing at the upper levels. Regularly disposed engaged columns carry a cantilevered awning supported by decorative cast-iron brackets along the outer ambulatory. Other exterior details include architraved eaves, volute corner cartouches, and tapering finials.

The south (entrance) elevation features a glazed entrance centred at ground level, recessed beneath a bowed portico defined by cast-iron Doric columns with volute capitals and surmounted by lamp standards on the upper promenade. Two-storey pagoda-roofed pavilions are located to the left and right of the entrance, with panelled walls at ground level and diamond glazing at the first floor beneath wide eaves. The pagoda roofs have corner cartouches and finials, and a glazed oculus is centred above the dome, where a spherical finial is now missing.

The north (rear) elevation has a bracketed eaves detail beneath an octagonal-roofed, two-storey tower at its centre. Decorative Art Nouveau glazing is present at the first floor. A projecting polygonal bow forms the front of the restaurant at ground level, surmounted by cast-iron railings to the promenade. Piended square-plan pavilions stand at ground level to the outer left and right.

Internally, the central dome is boarded with radiating steel girders, solid towards the apex, curving towards the ground with skeletal circular infills. The interior includes a glazed clerestory and boxed piers at ground level, with a glazed ambulatory extending beyond. A decorative handrail encloses the inner floor, and a polygonal, part-glazed booth is set on a platform to the southeast. A 'Pay Here' parapet with cast-iron detailing is also present. A segmental-arched girder to the north frames a stage, and a cinema is located behind it (accessed from the west), with a restaurant beyond. Balustraded stairs provide access to the upper promenade, situated in the pavilions flanking the entrance.

Glazing includes predominantly vertical panes, decorative fanlights, diamond-pattern glazing in the pagoda towers, and decorative stained or part-stained glazing in the former bandstand. The dome is covered with red-felt roofing, the towers with red-felt fish-scale tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods are in place.