Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court

James R Gillespie, 1893-94. 2-storey, Scots Baronial, crowstepped court house with octagonal turret, prominently located on corner site in Kirkcaldy town centre. Large 1979 extension to right of South Fergus Place elevation by Property Services Agency is not considered to be of interest in listing terms at time of review. Squared and snecked dressed rubble with droved ashlar quoins and dressings. Base, string and cill courses. Roll-moulded drip course and eaves cornice. Round-headed openings with voussoirs to tower. Roll-moulded surrounds. Stone transoms and mullions to tripartite windows.

Broad flight of steps to main entrance bay (Whytescauseway) with 3-stage, square-plan tower and 4-stage octagonal turret to centre. Round- headed doorway with key-stone and timber panelled 2-leaf door with radial fanlight. Forth stage of turret with windows to 7 faces and boarded timber door access to tower roof with balustrade parapet. Octagonal cap roof to turret with decorative finial. Polygonal-roofed, canted bay to left. Crowstep gable to right with large 9-light transomed and mullioned window (main courtroom) at first floor and heraldic lion finial. Further pair of first floor 9-light windows to the South Fergus Place elevation beneath crow-stepped wallhead gablets. Projecting wing to west with polygonal cap roof to corner bay and moulded tablet in shouldered chimney gable to right. Stepped chimney breast with rounded stack to right. East elevation largely encased by 1979 extension but with some stonework and fenestration retained.

Small-pane glazing over plate glass in timber sash and case windows. Graded grey slates. Cavetto coped ashlar stacks with cans and ashlar-coped skews with moulded skewputts. Ogee-capped, polygonal timber bellcote to principal courtroom with slate apron to roof ridge. Cast iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hoppers and fixings. Decorative cast iron finials.

The interior, seen in 2014, largely retains its late 19th century scheme. Basket-arched, round and segmental-headed openings; timber dado, shutters, fireplaces and doors. Tower section vestibule with 2-leaf door with coloured glass and radial fanlight and mosaic-floor. Stone staircase with decorative cast iron balusters and timber handrail, round-headed niches and dado rail. Principal courtroom with panelled dado and keystone arch with decorated spandrels above bench to south wall. Channel vaulted ceiling with corbelled arches. Sheriff's chambers with timber fireplace and bracketed, round-arch to canted window. Winding stair to vaulted cellar with barley-twist cast-iron balusters and timber handrail. 2 tower rooms with flag-pole at centre and boarded timber ceilings.

Semi-circular coped rubble boundary wall to rear.