61 and 61a Newark Street

This 2-storey and attic, 6-bay house, dating from 1880 by the Glasgow architect John Honeyman, is built in a quadrangular plan around a small central courtyard and has an attached 2-storey, L-plan former stable block, coach house and former garage to the southwest. The property has been divided into seven separate residential units. There are two distinctive 3-stage towers with pyramidal roofs, one at the far west of the coach house and the other incorporated into the north wing of the house. The building is of ashlar sandstone, channelled at ground floor level and with channelled corner quoins and has a base course, band courses and a cornice.

The principal elevation to the south has steps, with flanking metal lions on pedestals, leading to an off-centre, 2-leaf timber entrance door. The door sits within a round-arched doorpiece. Round and square Ionic columns to the right and left support an advanced balustrade above which extends over the tripartite window to the left. There is an advanced, 2-bay section to the right (west) and a dormer with a round-arched pediment and flanking balustrades to the east. The west elevation of the property has some canted bay windows.

The windows are predominantly plate glass timber sash and case with some non-traditional windows to the rear and former stable block area of the property. The roof is piended to the majority of sections and has grey slates and metal finials to its apices. There are a number of corniced and decorative chimney stacks.

The majority of the main house interior was seen in 2016. There has been some alteration to the room layout as a result of the division of the property into several residences, but a number of public rooms remain intact and a number of high quality 19th century decorative features remain. Sections of the property which were around the main staircase of the former house have timber panelling to picture rail height. Some sections of the main staircase remain, along with its timber balusters. There is some intricate decorative plasterwork to some of the public rooms and some carved chimney pieces. Other rooms have dado-height timber panelling and a number of the doors are part-glazed, with others 6-panelled timber doors. One room has a pair of glazed, columned, round-arched features, looking to the internal courtyard, one of which has a French window and the other is a canted alcove with window seating. There are a number of stained glass panels including those in the internal part-glazed entrance door, and the former stairwell.