79 Commercial Street, Dundee

Arnott’s, at 80-81 High Street, Dundee, is a commercial terrace built in 1871 by William Mackison. It is a four-storey and attic building with 38 bays, incorporating a three-bay rounded corner and three bays facing Meadowside. The building is constructed from sandstone ashlar, channelled to the first floor, with a slate roof. Polished Peterhead granite is used for the shopfronts at numbers 110 and on Meadowside.

The facade is organised with pilasters between sections and at the corner, channelled to the ground floor. The first and second floors feature panelled pilasters topped with swagged capitals that rise to a consoled main cornice at the second floor, paired at the third floor. There is a corniced ground floor and a cill band to the first floor, incorporating open-work aprons at numbers 68-78. A cill band is also present at the second floor, along with a wallhead course and corniced blocking course. The doors are centrally positioned in each section, although the central door has been removed from number 68, and part of the doorcase has been removed at numbers 70-78. Each door is flanked by pilastered doorcases, shell niches above the doors, and paired consoles.

The windows are timber sash and case windows with two panes. The first-floor windows have architraves with alternating segmental and triangular pediments. At numbers 68, the three centre windows are grouped, and at numbers 70-78, 80-88, 90-98, 100-108, and 110, the centre window is formed as a bipartite window with a mullion topped with a composite capital. The second-floor windows are keystoned and roundheaded, with composite-capitalled nook shafts and a continuous impost course. The windows of the four seven-bay sections on the second floor have consoled balconies, with ball finials remaining at numbers 100-108. The third-floor windows have keystoned margins. There are bipartite box dormers and segmental-headed dormers at number 110. Corniced axial stacks are a prominent feature.

The front elevation is arranged in bays of 5-7-7-7-7-5, with doors as described. Original shopfronts are retained at numbers 80-88, 100-108, and 110, while others have been altered. The windows to the upper floors are as previously described.

The rounded corner onto Meadowside features a central door flanked by blinded keystoned roundheaded windows. The upper floors have tripartite windows similar to the main elevation, with an aediculaed dormer, a flattened hexagonal conical roof with fishscale slate bands, lucarnes, louvres, and a decorative iron parapet.

The Meadowside elevation has a tripartite shopfront to the ground floor and three windows to the upper floors, matching the main elevation, also featuring three dormers breaking through the parapet.

The right return elevation, facing Chapel Street, is five bays wide. It features two doors and three windows to the ground floor, and five windows to the upper floors, with detailing similar to the main elevation, though simpler. The wallhead is punctuated by three massive stacks linked by two intersecting dormers and topped with coping.

The rear elevation includes various single and paired windows to all floors, wallhead stacks, and some two-storey former mews buildings.

The interior of the building has not been inspected.