Former United Free Church, Rothesay, Bute

The former United Free Church, located in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, was designed by Duncan Dewar and built in 1911. It is an asymmetrical, two-story building with an attic, originally consisting of two bays, with a projecting, Flemish-style tower on the right side and an advanced gabled bay at the centre. More recent single-story additions have been made to the south and east.

The church is constructed of coursed, slightly bull-faced sandstone with polished sandstone dressings. A raised base course is present, along with corniced openings at ground and first floor levels. The building features skewed gables, corniced eaves, and overhanging, bracketed eaves on the square-plan tower. Raised ashlar quoins and long-and-short surrounds are noteworthy, as are the chamfered cills at ground level on the east side and the projecting cills on the north side. Stone mullions and stained leaded glazing are also present. The sides and rear of the building are constructed of harl-pointed random rubble sandstone with polished dressings, while the later additions are harled.

The primary (east) elevation has steps leading to a tripartite entrance in the centre, featuring a part-glazed, two-leaf timber panelled door. Flanking the door are bipartite windows, all with architraved panels, one of which is dated 1911. A six-light glazing row is aligned on the first floor, with the inscription “Enter His Courts With Thanksgiving” embossed in the panel below. A circular attic window is centered in the apex. The tower, offset to the right of the centre, has a curved hoodmould surmounting a single circular window on the ground floor, a tripartite window on the first floor, and four equally disposed louvred openings beneath a slightly bell-cast, modillioned eaves. A bipartite window is found at ground level within a recessed single-story addition to the outer right.

The north elevation is five bays wide, with single-story additions to the outer left. Corniced tripartite windows are at ground and first floor levels in the gabled bay to the outer right, while bipartite windows are at ground level in the four bays to the left. A tripartite window is set in a single-story addition to the outer left, with a flat-roofed, single-story addition beyond.

The roof is predominantly covered with grey slate, with a slate-hung piend surmounting the tower. Raised stone skews are present. A corniced apex stack is on the east side, along with a single circular chimney can. A coped central ridge stack, currently missing its can, and a coped, rendered wallhead stack on the south addition, with circular cans, are also visible. The interior was not inspected in 1996.

A low wall constructed of harl-pointed random rubble alongside a coped top runs along the High Street, with cast iron railings also present.