West High Church Of Scotland, Portland Street, Kilmarnock

The West High Church of Scotland, located on Portland Street, Kilmarnock, was designed by Edinburgh-based architects Cousin and Gale and built in 1844. A hall was added in 1849, and a session house in 1859. The church is constructed in the Free Gothic style and is rectangular in plan, with extensions to the north and south, and a four-stage tower at the east. The exterior is predominantly polished cream ashlar sandstone, with coursed rubble to the flanking buildings. The tower features corbelled pinnacles to the angles, buttresses, and a crenellated parapet with angle finials.

The east elevation, or principal facade, features a round-arched entrance at the base of the buttressed tower, with a pair of similarly arched windows above. A clock is situated on each face of the tower in the third stage, and the fourth stage is set back above a stepped string, featuring round-arched belfry openings. Low gabled bays flank the base of the tower, incorporating angle pinnacles and pierced, quatrefoil-detailed parapets, with a single arched door to the returns.

The south elevation displays a five-bay body of the church, with tall round-arched windows of 1860 rising into architraved, stepped, triangular gableheads, each topped with stone finials. A single-storey hall, also with five bays, is situated to the south, with an additional door to the right, adjacent to the first bay.

The west (rear) elevation is gabled, with a lower, rectangular organ chamber of 1897 projecting forward. It features a tall central arched window, flanked by lower arched windows, which are blind to each return.

The north elevation mirrors the south, also exhibiting a five-bay body with tall round-arched windows rising into architraved, stepped, triangular gableheads and stone finials. A single-storey session house of 1859, featuring matching detailing, is attached to the right and projects northwards.

Arched windows with square quarry detailing are present in most bays on all elevations. The church, hall, and session house are covered by piended grey slate roofs, with lead ridging, flashing and valleys. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods are visible externally.

The interior features galleries on three sides, supported by cast-iron Corinthian columns; the upper columns support an elaborately beamed roof. A pipe organ is located in a recessed arch on the west wall, featuring gothic timber fretwork in its case. The church has plain timber pews and panelling, with semi-glazed double doors leading from the entrance porch into the main body of the church. Later lighting installations are also present.

Low coursed ashlar boundary walls, with sloped copes and later plain wrought-iron railings, enclose the site.