The Nursery Times (former dispensary and lodge of Royal Alexandra Infirmary), 22 Neilston Road, Paisley

The Nursery Times, formerly the dispensary and lodge of the Royal Alexandra Infirmary, is a building located at 22 Neilston Road, Paisley. Constructed between 1897 and 1900, it was designed by Thomas Graham Abercrombie in the Scottish Renaissance style and is currently a children’s nursery (as of 2017). The building exhibits elaborate detailing and is constructed from snecked, stugged red sandstone with polished margins. A later gabled section to the northwest is excluded from the listing.

The lodge, situated to the south, is L-plan with a gabled two-storey section, featuring a canted bay window at ground level and corbelled corners at first floor level. A two-storey round tower, with a bellcast roof and a moulded, key-stoned doorpiece, sits in a re-entrant angle to the southwest. A single-storey section with a steep, piended roof extends from the west elevation.

The former dispensary, with a gabled profile, is located to the north. The main, eastern elevation features a near-central, gabled, recessed three-bay section with pedimented windows rising above a balustraded eaves parapet. This section is embellished with gable finials and an ornate octagonal roof ventilator featuring decorative round arches, columns, and louvred vents. To the right is a symmetrical three-bay entrance section, with a central round-arched entrance, a keystone, a balustrade above, and flanking gabled bays containing bipartite windows, the bays being divided by channelled ashlar pilasters. To the left, a gabled bay features a round-arched entrance with a moulded doorpiece and flanking sidelights.

The rear elevation, to the west, has swept eaves. The building’s varied windows include timber casement windows with small-pane glazing above, using a 6-pane glazing pattern for the casements and a 9-pane pattern for the upper lights. Other windows are timber sash and case, with a 4-pane glazing pattern. Bipartite windows with plate glass are present to the east, with larger windows incorporating small, multi-pane glazing positioned above.

The roofs are covered in grey slate, with corniced chimney stacks to the south. A pair of red sandstone, channelled ashlar, square-plan gatepiers, adorned with triglyph friezes and topped with large, four-armed urns, mark the southern boundary.