14, 16 Eglinton Street, Beith

This is a largely complete two-storey and attic, four-bay, napus-gabled building dating from the later 18th century. Originally an inn, formerly known as the Crown Hotel, it is located on Eglinton Street, Beith.

The main façade features a later 20th-century shopfront on the right-hand side of the ground floor. Four regularly spaced small windows are positioned on the first floor, with two smaller windows set into the napus gable. There are two Velux-type windows in the attic. The exterior is covered with modern harl, which replaced the original lime harl, and painted margins highlight the window openings. The rear elevation has not been observed recently.

The building has been altered over time, with the loss of original skews, a chimney stack, and decorative cans from the napus gable. Two late 19th-century piended dormers, characteristic of similar buildings of that period, have also been removed. The shopfront and signage are considered fairly obtrusive. The windows have been replaced with UPVC double glazing, substituting the original timber sash and case windows. The roof is covered in grey slates.

Internally, the building contains a later 20th-century chip shop interior.

A photograph held in Beith Library, and referenced in Donald Reid’s "Old Beith" (2000), shows the building before the shopfront was installed, featuring a pilastered and entablatured doorcase in the central left bay. The building is marked on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 and is considered architecturally recognisable and locally important, despite the alterations.