Ayr St Columba Church, Midton Road, Ayr

A church and hall were constructed in Ayr in 1898 and 1902, designed by John B Wilson. The church is a near rectangular, Perpendicular style building situated on a gusset site, featuring a four-stage tower with a spire to its southwest elevation. The building is constructed of bull-faced red sandstone with ashlar dressings. A base course and dropped ground floor cill course are visible, along with pilasters to the gallery openings.

The southwest (entrance) elevation is thirteen bays, grouped as 1-4-3-3-1-1. The four-stage tower incorporates single trefoil-headed windows at the first stage, a blank second stage, paired trefoil-headed panels with transoms at the third stage, paired trefoil-headed gabled belfry openings flanked by angle gargoyles at the arch springing line, and a slated spirelet topped with a finial. Steps lead to a gabled, buttressed entrance porch, featuring a two-leaf glazed timber door, a leaded fanlight, a decorative panel to the moulded arch, a hoodmould, a niche in the tympanum, and three trefoil windows. An advanced, gabled, and buttressed transept bay to the right of the porch section features three trefoil windows, and four trefoil windows are situated between them, with a buttress centrally positioned. Four four-light clerestory windows, linked by hoodmoulds, are also present. Further features include two trefoil windows to the left, a timber door in an arched entrance to the right of a three-bay section, and a blind bay to the clerestory, raised to form a trefoil-headed, transomed arcade with a return. A buttressed gabled hall bay incorporates a stained glass, traceried window in the penultimate bay to the right, and three trefoil-slit openings to the tympanum. A bipartite leaded attic dormer is located in the bay to the outer right.

The northeast (rear) elevation displays three pairs of trefoil-headed windows to the aisles, with buttresses dividing each pair. Four four-light clerestory windows, linked by hoodmoulds, are situated above, with a blind bay in the clerestory to the outer left. This is raised to form a trefoil-headed, transomed arcade with a return. A quadripartite window is present in the gabled hall to the outer left. A square-headed recessed entrance with glazed timber doors is located adjacent to a bipartite window to the right. Tripartite windows appear on all faces of the canted bays to the right, connected by a two-light window to the aisled bays.

The northwest (side) elevation exhibits a single buttressed bay with a recessed tower. An arcade of tripartite trefoil-headed windows sits beneath a hoodmoulded, traceried gallery window. A niche appears at the gable apex and is topped with a cross finial. The southeast elevation was unrecorded in 1999.

The interior features a timber and carpeted floor, timber dado panelling, pews, elders’ furniture, and a pulpit. A timber-framed organ, a marble font, a tiled entrance porch, and corbelled timber bracing to a tie-beamed timber ceiling are also present. Leaded and stained glass windows are by CC Baillie, S Holmes, and possibly Oscar Paterson. The building is covered by a slate roof, and rainwater goods are cast iron. A low, coped wall with bull-faced stonework encloses the site.