Veterinary Practice, 21 Hill Street, Kilmarnock

This is a veterinary practice situated at 21 Hill Street, Kilmarnock. The building dates from around 1845 and comprises a two-storey, three-bay L-shaped house, with single-storey, single-bay wing facades and a rear extension. The main front elevation is harled and painted, while the side and rear elevations are of coursed rubble, with a rear extension built of yellow brick. The building features angle margins, a base course, and an eaves course. Architectural details include architraved window surrounds and projecting cornices to the ground floor.

The west (principal) elevation incorporates a slightly advanced porch to the centre, featuring a pair of Tuscan columns supporting a rectangular lintel, an architraved cornice, and a smaller lintel over an arched door surround with a semi-circular fanlight. Single architraved windows flank the porch, each with a cornice surmounting the lintel. Three regularly spaced architraved windows are present on the first floor. An eaves course leads to a low parapet. Single-storey wing facades extend from the flanks, with a moulded rectangular vehicular access on the left wing; the right wing has been filled in to create an additional room with small, paired windows high in the wall.

The north elevation features a blind rubble wall, with a single in-filled window in the outer bays of the first floor and a wallhead stack in the centre. The east (rear) elevation has a regularly fenestrated projecting extension to the first and second bays and a window to the extreme right on the right return. A single window is located in the third bay of both floors of the main house. A blind rubble wall defines the south elevation, alongside a piended single-storey extension to the ground floor, set behind the wing facade, with blind gables to the left and right.

Later windows have been installed, including two-pane PVCu sash and case effect windows on the main front elevation and a replacement multi-paned fixed window at the ground floor on the left. Other windows are a mix of two and four-pane timber and PVCu sash and case types. The roof is covered with piended grey slate, with lead ridging and flashing. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present, some of which have been replaced with plastic. The principal gutter is concealed by the low parapet, with downpipes running along the side elevations. Stepped rectangular coursed ashlar wallhead stacks, featuring slightly projecting ashlar neck copes and four mismatched cans, are located on the north and south sides.

Internally, some cornicing and timber skirting boards and doors remain. The original room plan is still discernible, but some features have been lost due to alterations made in the early 20th century to create veterinary rooms, a surgery, a waiting room, and a reception area.

Low coursed rubble front walls and a pair of squared ashlar former gatepiers, with cushioned caps, form part of the setting.