Council Offices, Ayr Holmston Road

The Council Offices on Holmston Road, designed by William Lambie Moffat and William Kerr, were constructed between 1857 and 1860. This two-storey and attic building features a 24-bay H-plan layout and is a former Jacobean-gabled poorhouse. It is built from coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings, showcasing a dividing string course, bands with knotted label stops on the gables (except for the central gable), an eaves course, a cornice, and finials on the gables.

The southwest elevation, which serves as the entrance, includes an arched principal entrance with a two-leaf timber door, sidelights, and a small-paned fanlight. Above this entrance, there is a single window on the first floor, and a single window is located in the shaped Jacobean gable with kneelers. The rear features an ogee-roofed cupola, and there are flanking single windows at both the ground and first floors. Slightly advanced flanking bays contain pairs of single windows at both levels. The left side has three straight-skewed gables, with the inner gable featuring a central timber door with a letterbox fanlight and flanking sidelights, along with a single window on the first floor. Arrow slits are present in the attics. The outer right side has a straight-skewed gable with two single windows at both the ground and first floors, an arrow slit in the attic, and a central timber door with a letterbox fanlight and flanking sidelights. The outer right also has a modern harled addition.

The southeast, northeast, and northwest elevations display irregular fenestration. The building features 8- and 12-pane timber sash and case windows, a slate roof, stone skews, skewputts, corniced gabled stacks, and circular cans. The cast-iron rainwater goods complete the exterior. The interior was not seen in 1999.