2-4 Eglinton Street, Beith

This is an early 19th century house, originally two bays wide and two storeys high, located on Eglinton Street in Beith. In 2003, it underwent a substantial restoration as part of a Townscape Heritage Initiative – it had previously been in very poor condition, including being entirely without a roof prior to work beginning in 2002.

The front of the building now incorporates later shops at ground level, with a central entrance flanked by enlarged shop windows, each set within a moulded architrave. The entrance door is located in the left bay. Above the shop fronts, a fascia with a cornice serves as the cill to the first-floor windows. The ground floor is faced with polished sandstone ashlar, while the first floor is harled, with exposed margins. The windows are replacements, but retain the traditional timber sash and case style with 12 panes per sash. Two canted dormers with piend-roofs were added in 2003. Grey slates cover the roof, and there is an end stack with circular clay cans.

The rear elevation is two bays wide, with two storeys and an attic, and is harled with exposed margins.

The interior was refurbished in 2003, and no original features remain.

The building is one of five at The Cross in Beith that were repaired and restored using traditional materials and techniques, and the group now forms a significant focal point in the town. The building appears on the 1858 Ordnance Survey map and is discussed in Donald Reid’s Old Beith (2000).