Gatepiers, Hunter Hospital, Hunter Street, Kirkcaldy

Hunter Hospital is a house, originally dating from 1786, with later additions by Williamson and Hubbard in 1936. It was converted to a hospital in 1936, with the addition of lower, two-storey wings. The main building is two storeys high with a basement, and has a piend and platform roof. It is classical in style, featuring a Roman Doric portico and a lantern. The exterior is largely harled, with an ashlar doorcase and some polished ashlar margins, an ashlar base course, band and cill courses, a cavetto eaves cornice, and a blocking course. Segmental-headed arches feature over the door, and architraved windows are present on the north side at ground floor level, with voussoirs above.

The north (principal) elevation has a wide central bay with three steps leading to a semi-circular, timber-roofed portico featuring paired columns and engaged columns. A panelled timber door is set within the portico, flanked by screens, with a radial-astragalled fanlight above and a decorative cornice. Three windows are located centrally above the portico, with balustraded aprons projecting over it. Windows are present in the flanking bays on each floor, with those on the ground floor featuring a balustrade and consoled cornice. Access to the basement and a fire escape are located to the right, while a modern full-height stack juts out to the left. Lower wings adjoin and project to the outer right and left.

The south (Hunter Street) elevation has three windows in a bowed central bay, alongside further windows in the flanking bays on each floor, including smaller windows in the high basement. A rooflight is centrally positioned.

The west elevation has two bays to the right with windows to each floor, with alterations made to those at basement and ground floor levels. A tripartite window is located in the projecting bay of the wing to the left.

The east elevation is similar in appearance to the west.

All windows appear to be blinded to mimic 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows, and are covered with grey slates. The building has coped ashlar stacks with full cans.

The interior, last inspected in 1996, includes a top-lit spiral staircase, decorative cast-iron balusters, and a timber handrail. Stained glass windows flank the main door, each containing a small figure. There is an oval room facing Hunter Street, featuring a curved fireplace and overmantel, and other rooms are also oval in shape.

A John Hunter Memorial, a domed and finialled, square-section baldacchino-style monument enclosing a bust of John Hunter, is also present. It has a stepped plinth, Doric columns, moulded and keystoned arches, a deep cornice, and decorative finials at its angles.

A square-plan, boarded timber gazebo, slated and finialled with a piended roof, with windows to the north and south, and a doorway with flanking lights to the west, is included. Semi-circular-coped rubble boundary walls are present, along with chamfered ashlar piers (reduced) with stepped copes.