61 London Road, Kilmarnock

These are a pair of semi-detached villas, built around 1905 by Thomas Smellie. They are designed in a Free Style architectural style and are located at 59 and 61 London Road, Kilmarnock. The villas have an L-shaped plan, incorporating a tower and a porch in the re-entrant angles.

The principal, north-east elevation is faced with polished yellow sandstone ashlar, while the sides are constructed of coursed sandstone rubble. A polished ashlar eaves cornice and dressings are present, alongside drip sills to most windows and a sill band to the first-floor bay windows.

Number 59, on the right-hand side, features a two-storey entrance tower with a distinctive candle snuffer roof in the re-entrant angle. The tower has an architraved rectangular door surround with alternate arched and moulded quoins and a prominent keystone leading to a rectangular pediment. Above the door are paired, narrow rectangular windows with drip sills. To the far right is an advanced, two-storey, three-sided canted bay window. Each floor of the bay window has a bipartite window in the center and single windows on each canted side. To the left of the entrance tower is a ground-floor window, a small high square window adjacent to it, and an oversized window on the first floor.

Number 61, adjoining to the left, has a one-and-a-half-storey square entrance porch with a projecting cornice in the re-entrant angle, featuring an arched window with a projecting sill and arched hood mould. An architraved entrance door surround is on the right return. The ground floor has a small high square window and an oversized window to the right; to the far left is an advanced, two-storey, three-sided canted bay window, with a bipartite window to the center of each floor and single windows to the canted sides.

The south-east elevation has a gabled end with a single window to the center of each floor, with a now-blind window to the right of the first floor and a gablehead stack. The rear, or south-west, elevation was not inspected in 2001. The north-west elevation mirrors the south-east, with a gabled end, single window to the center of each floor, and a gablehead stack.

The windows are timber sash and case windows with horned upper sashes. Heavy stone mullions and transoms are incorporated into the bay windows. Stained glass, multi-paned timber sash and case windows are found in the oversized staircase windows and the two-pane arched porch window of Number 61’s porch. The roof is of grey slate, with a candle-snuffer roof to the tower and a piended roof to the bay windows. Copper ball and stalk finials are visible at the apex of the bays and the candle-snuffer roof. A replacement multi-paned roof light is partially concealed by the tower. Metal ridging, flashing, and valleys are present, along with painted cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative cast-iron hoppers. The gablehead stacks are of coursed ashlar, with projecting neck copes and plain terracotta cans. A replacement modern brown brick shared roofline stack is centrally located, with a stepped base and brown clay cans.

The interior was not inspected in 2001.