Former Lace Factory, Belford Mill, Lawson Street, Kilmarnock

Former Lace Factory, Belford Mill, Lawson Street, Kilmarnock

This former lace mill comprises two tall buildings dating from 1881 to 1887, bordering three streets with a distinctive bowed gable at the corner. Additional structures in the yard include a tall circular chimney. The buildings are constructed in yellow brick with red Ballochmyle sandstone dressings.

Lawson Street and Brewery Road Building

The Lawson Street elevation presents a four-storey, seven-bay frontage with a tall ground floor containing tall windows. Each bay contains a window. Advanced vertical brick sections between windows and at the outer bays interrupt the facade. The upper floors feature segmental-arched windows with nailhead decoration above each third-floor window on the northwest and southwest elevations, broken by vertical margins. A continuous corbel course runs across the whole building. To the far left, a pedimented block connects to a two-bay single-storey wing with a piended slate roof. Three windows are bricked up to the left, with a door to the right; advanced vertical sections further interrupt the ground-floor facade, with a nailhead course above and to the pediment. An attached shed stands at the left.

The Brewery Road elevation features a distinctive bowed front of six bays grouped as two-two-two. Strip pilasters divide the elevation into three parts, with paired segmental-arched windows at each floor rising to a parapet stepped up to the centre. A door has been inserted at ground level to the outer right.

The southeast elevation has a fire escape attached, with doors at the first to third storeys providing access. In the third storey, the second-bay window is partially blocked; in the second storey, the third-bay window has had its segmental arch removed. A single-storey shed at ground-floor level projects outward and connects with the Riverbank Place building. A central garage door is flanked by a window and door set within a recess. Nailhead decoration appears on all openings, with a base course and stone band course above the openings. A corrugated sheet structure is attached to both buildings to the rear.

The northeast elevation is four storeys with four bays. Each storey contains a window in each bay, except for a corrugated-iron former chemical store occupying the outer left bay at the fourth storey. The far left bay is supported on decorative metal brackets. An inset door at the third storey, second bay, has brackets below indicating a former external shed. Another inset door appears at the second storey, third bay. The ground floor is regularly fenestrated with pipes projecting from the fourth bay connecting to the building opposite. A stepped arrangement surmounts the gable wall.

Brewery Road and Riverbank Place Building

The south elevation is three storeys with ten bays. Paired segmental-arched windows occur at each floor except the ground floor, which has a door to the far right and a bipartite window to the left flank. A base course and advanced strip pilasters between the paired windows are present. Nailhead decoration appears at the eaves below continuous corbelled eaves courses. Sawtooth roofs are visible, with a coped wallhead stack to the right.

The southeast elevation contains six bays grouped as one-five. The outer left bay features a single round-headed window to each storey, with ground and first-floor windows blocked in 2001. Nailhead detail and corbels continue across the elevation; a base course and advanced quoins are present. A later flat-roofed block stands to the right. An inserted garage door appears to the left, with five tall vertical infill red brick sections rising above. Five upper-floor windows are divided by advanced vertical margins with raised brick upper courses. An abutting gable wall of a single-storey building to the right contains two segmental-arched windows. A coped gablehead stack with polygonal can and pitched slate roof stands nearby, with ashlar skew-copes. A single-storey, two-bay section to the outer right has round-headed windows (bricked up) in each storey.

Windows throughout include 24-pane fixed windows to the ground floor on the Brewery Lane elevation, 10-pane windows to the first floor, and 16-pane fixed lights with a central 4-pane pivoting window to the upper storey. Two-, four-, six-, and ten-pane metal-framed windows appear on other elevations, with some bays now bricked up. Piended grey slate roofs feature cast-iron rainwater goods and concealed parapet gutters.

Interior

Supporting cast-iron pillars remain in place. The building continues in use as a textile mill, shop, and distribution warehouse.