35 Wilson Street, Beith

Probably dating to the late 18th century, with remodelling in the earlier 19th century, 35 Wilson Street is a two-storey, three-bay house. The front features a central, pilastered doorway topped with an entablature, and a window on the ground floor right that was enlarged to create a former shop window. All windows have architraved surrounds and raised sills. The exterior is harled, with painted angle margins and an eaves course, and a base course. The rear elevation includes a brick two-storey addition dating from around 1900, along with original outbuildings. The grey slate roof has end stacks; the stack to the left has been rebuilt with circular clay cans, while the stack to the right has coped ashlar with moulded, octagonal cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present. The windows are now UPVC replacements, having previously been timber sash and case windows, likely originally with 6-pane over 9-pane glazing. The sashes lack horns, and the top sash was smaller than the lower. Internally, little of the original fabric remains. The building was formerly the Wheatsheaf Inn, operating in the first half of the 20th century, with the unusual advantage of being permitted to serve alcohol on Sundays—a loophole that resulted in a higher proportion of hotels and inns in Beith than might otherwise have been expected. More recently, the ground floor served as an upholsterer’s shop. A photograph from 1979 shows the original timber sash and case windows with 4-pane glazing, which was likely achieved by removing the original astragals, originally featuring small-paned glazing. The moulding of the architraves and the doorpiece suggest a smartened 19th-century appearance while the overall form is typical of the late 18th to early 19th century. The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 and was marked as a public house on the third edition map of 1910.