Friarfield House, 64-66 Barrack Street, Dundee

James McLaren and George Shaw Aitken, 1873, completed

1. 3-storey and basement Renaissance office on

corner site, rusticated base, channelled ashlar ground

floor and stugged courses above with ashlar dressings.

3-window circular corner with square-columned Doric

doorpiece, dentil cornice and parapet. Tall panelled

pilaster strips, 1st and 2nd floors rise to paired

consoles and dentil cornice, balustraded parapet

broken by arched segmentally pedimented dormer.

French conical pavilion roof with bold lead cornice,

cast-iron brattishing and flag pole at platform.

Barrack St elevation symmetrical 14-window (4-bay)

with bay at each end defined by pilasters, rusticated at

ground, banded at 1st and vertically channelled at 2nd

floors. Windows in architraves either single or groups

of 3, with 1st floor cornices and pediments. Shouldered

arched windows at 2nd. Dentil cornice and parapet,

with urn finials over dies. Door at S end for entrance

to mill lodge. Door in centre is altered from window

South Ward Road elevation similar style with 3 single

windows. S gable 2-bay in similar style with wallhead

stack.

Rear elevation plain rubble with irregular fenestration

and blocked basement windows. Rubble gable of South

Ward Road block to allow for continuation, unbuilt.

Slate roofs with ridge stacks and 1 ornate can

surviving.

Interior: Fine circular entrance rising through 2

floors lined with Corinthian and Doric pilasters. Wide

stair with cast-iron balustrade to 1st floor. A simpler

stair to the mill is towards the S of the block,

and a cast-iron spiral stair, reputed to have come from

2 trams, is at the S Ward Road end. Most 1st floor rooms

have simple cornices, but Mr Don's (near the staircase)

and Mr Buist's (further south) have more elaborate

cornices and marble fireplaces. The 2nd floor, formerly

a store for manufactured goods is of less interest.

The ground floor dining rooms are plain. The basement

raw flax and jute store is fireproof with cast-iron

columns and beams, brick arches and several partitions.

Ashlar gatepiers with wood and wrought-iron gates to S.