University Hall, Kennedy Gardens, St Andrews

University Hall is a purpose-built hall of residence constructed in 1895-6, with sympathetic additions and alterations made in 1910-11 and a later extension in 1962. It is located at Kennedy Gardens, St Andrews, and is an example of Scots Baronial architecture.

The original building was designed by Gillespie & Scott and comprises three storeys and six bays, with an asymmetrical facade. The principal, or southeast, elevation features a slightly advanced, three-storey and attic bay with a crowstepped gable, a timber door, and a 12-pane glazed fanlight above. Tripartite windows are found on the first and second floors. To the right is a single bay with a semi-circular dormer-headed projection breaking the eaves and a bartizanned turret in the northeast corner’s outer bay. A single-storey, two-bay addition by Mills & Shepherd, also dated 1910-11, sits to the far right, featuring a projecting, pyramidally-roofed bay with a 5-light window and a pedimented sundial above the eaves. To the left of the entrance is a three-bay section with a 4-light bay window.

Further extensions by Mills and Shepherd form a U-plan wing to the far left, near-symmetrical with a central timber double door set within a curved gabled porch. Flanking bays have windows and pedimented dormers. Crowstepped gabled bays enclose a full-height circular tower to the southwest corner. A rear, or north, elevation reveals a former service wing leading to a whitewashed harl section with a single-storey, piended and crowstepped gable.

The building is constructed of squared and snecked sandstone rubble with ashlar margins, base and eaves courses, and a string course to the original central section. The windows are predominantly timber sash and case, with 6 and 12 panes over plate glass in the Gillespie & Scott sections, and 6 and 4 panes over plate glass in the Mills & Shepherd additions. The roof is covered in graded grey slates, with a variety of ridge and gable stacks topped with cans, and cast-iron rainwater goods.

Internally, the principal rooms retain a good decorative scheme with high-quality joinery. The Mills & Shepherd dining hall features timber panelling, a stone chimneypiece with the University crest and moulded stone horns, and an exposed kingpost roof with decorative Gothic braces. Reading and common rooms have simple decoration and integrated timber bookcases with fluted surrounds. Numerous original fireplaces remain, including timber designs with tiled inserts; one exhibits a carved thistle motif and the inscription 'PRO PATRIA 1896'. Simple moulded cornices are also present.

Boundary walls, constructed of squared and snecked sandstone with semicircular copings, enclose the property to the south and west, incorporating a boarded timber door to the west. The St Leonard’s Road entrance features square gatepiers with alternating ashlar and bull-faced stone courses, pyramidal caps, and decorative cast-iron gates. Similar gatepiers mark the Kennedy Gardens entrance, with a pedestrian gate to the right.