Royal And Ancient Golf Club, Golf Place, St Andrews

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, situated at Golf Place in St Andrews, is a large, multi-phase building dating primarily from 1854, with significant additions and alterations occurring throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original design is attributed to George Rae, with subsequent work by John Laurie Fogo and Jesse Hall (1866), David Henry (1873), John Milne (1880-82), James Gillespie (1889 and 1899), and J Donald Mills (1922-25). Later alterations took place in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The building is prominently located at the head of the St Andrews Links Old Course and is constructed in a classical style with pale sandstone ashlar and moulded dressings, incorporating cill courses.

The west-facing elevation, overlooking the Links, features a large, 7-window, canted bay with stone mullions. Above this is a covered balcony with cavetto-moulded stone plinths and intricately scrolled wrought-iron columns and railings. Above the balcony is a triangular pediment containing a lunette window and a radiating keystone motif. A slightly projecting pedimented towerlet, featuring a clock on the first floor, sits at the outer right. To the left are two bays with tripartite windows on each floor. Two large, square-plan, glazed lanterns are set back behind a balustraded parapet.

The south elevation, the main entrance front, is symmetrical and includes an advanced, flat-roofed portico with square-section columns. A pedimented gable above the portico contains a tripartite window, with segmentally-pedimented dormers flanking. Slightly advanced, pedimented bays return to the west and east elevations. The building exhibits French Beaux-Arts influences evident in the segmentally-pedimented chimney stacks.

The east elevation is divided into two sections. The left section comprises a two-storey portion with five windows on the ground floor and three shouldered and pedimented dormers above. The right section is a three-storey, four-bay portion with irregular fenestration and segmental cornices to the first-floor windows. Projecting in-and-out quoins are present, and the section is topped with a shallow piend roof.

The building features plate glass glazing within timber sash and case windows, and grey slates cover the roof. A variety of tall, coped end, ridge, and corner stacks are present, along with cast-iron rainwater goods.

The interior demonstrates a high-quality scheme, including timber fireplaces, panelling, and fitted timber trophy and memorabilia display cabinets. Decorative plasterwork cornices adorn the principal ground floor reception rooms. The staircase features carved timber balusters, newel posts, and handrails. Timber doors include coloured glass infills to fanlights.

The Trophy Room contains a stone fireplace, memorials commemorating the First and Second World Wars, stained glass windows, and trophy/golf club display cabinets. The Big Room is characterized by an elaborate plasterwork ceiling and hardwood golf club lockers lining the walls to dado height. The Secretary's Office features timber panelling to dado height, a stone fireplace, and decorative plasterwork to a mansard roof.