Robinson Crusoe House, 99 And 103 Main Street, Lower Largo

Robinson Crusoe House is a two-story, five-bay house built in 1885 by David Gillies, a net manufacturer, on Main Street in Lower Largo. It was constructed on the site of a former thatched cottage, and is associated with the birth place of Alexander Selkirk. The building is of whin rubble construction with large, stugged and broached ashlar dressings, incorporating some concrete repairs. It features two central doorways and a statue of Robinson Crusoe sculpted by Stuart Burnett, which resides in a niche above. The windows comprise inner flanking bipartites (two-part windows) and outer single-light windows. The roof is pantiled with a slate easing course, straight skews, and end stacks. In 1935, the house was altered by James Gilles to create four flats. A plaque commemorates Alexander Selkirk, the mariner who inspired the Robinson Crusoe story, detailing his four years and four months spent on Juan Fernandez island and his subsequent death in 1723, and notes David Gillies’s role in erecting the statue.