12 London Road, Kilmarnock

This is a two-storey, three-bay classical villa dating to around 1840, with later additions designed by John J Railton in 1875. The villa is accompanied by screen walls and single-storey terminal bays. The exterior is constructed of red sandstone ashlar, with the ground floor channelled and the upper floor coursed; polished dressings and a decorative door surround are also present. The side elevations and a rear extension are built with a mix of coursed and random rubble. Bracketed eaves, a cornice, and a blocking course run along the top. The principal elevation features lugged architraves to the first-floor windows and window margins on the side elevations.

The south (principal) elevation has ashlar steps leading to a recessed, timber-panelled front door, an architraved surround, and a doorpiece with Doric, engaged columns. There is a window in each outer bay at ground floor level. A band course runs along the line of the door surround. Three bays are arranged regularly, with eared architraves framing the first-floor windows. To the right is a single-storey screen wall which originally contained a segmental-arched carriage entrance, now in-filled to create a public entrance for the doctor’s surgery; a raised terminal bay above it features a central window topped with a cornice. Similarly, a single-storey screen wall to the left originally had a segmental-arched carriage entrance, now used as vehicular access to the rear of the surgery; a raised terminal bay to the left has a blind central window and a cornice.

The west elevation, on the original section to the right, has a ground floor window to the left and a first-floor window slightly left of center. An extension added in 1875 adjoins to the left, featuring windows on both floors.

The north (rear) elevation is arranged in an “L” shape. A single-storey extension is attached to the east wing and the left bay of the ground floor of the main house; a bipartite window is situated to the right. The first-floor section to the right has a single window to the left, a bipartite window to the right, and another window to the left of the return. A further window faces north on the recessed first floor of the main house.

The east elevation’s original ground floor is hidden behind a later in-fill with a pyramidal glass roof. The main building has a blind first floor.

The windows are timber sash and case, with two panes of glass; the west elevation has four-pane windows. The roof is grey slate, piended and platformed, with metal ridging and flashings. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods are present, with gutters concealed by the bracketed eaves cornice, and downpipes on the west and north elevations. Two symmetrically placed, harled, and moulded roofline stacks are present, each with six tall hexagonal cans.

The interior has been remodelled for use as a doctor’s surgery; the upper floor was not inspected in 2001.

A low ashlar boundary wall with rectangular copes runs along the front of the house. It terminates in taller, ashlar panelled gatepiers, each with a moulded cope that mirrors the eaves of the house; a driveway runs on either flank. The outer gatepiers are mismatched and belong to adjacent properties.