Robinson Crusoe House, 101 And 105 Main Street, Lower Largo

Robinson Crusoe House is a two-storey, five-bay house built in 1885 by David Gillies, a net manufacturer. It was constructed on the site of a former thatched cottage, and commemorates Alexander Selkirk, the mariner who inspired Daniel Defoe’s novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and was born in the original cottage. The building is of whin rubble construction with large, finely finished ashlar dressings, incorporating some concrete repairs. The facade features two central doors and a statue of Robinson Crusoe, sculpted by Stuart Burnett, set within a niche above. The windows are arranged as inner flanking bipartites (two-light windows) and outer single-light windows. The roof is pantiled, with a slate easing course, straight skews (roof verge details), and end stacks (chimneys). In 1935, the house was altered by James Gilles to create four flats. A plaque on the building acknowledges Selkirk’s life, detailing his four years and four months spent in solitude on Juan Fernandez island, his death as a lieutenant in HMS Weymouth in 1723, and the statue’s creation by David Gillies. Records from the National Monuments Record of Scotland and the Gillies Photograph Archive provide further information.