Nightingale House, 18-20 Doonfoot Road, Ayr

Nightingale House is a former kitchen building dating to around 1820, with alterations made in the 19th century. It is a single and single-and-a-half storey structure with an asymmetrical plan arranged around a courtyard. The building is constructed of rubble and squared sandstone with ashlar dressings.

The south-east elevation, which serves as the main entrance front, is 12 bays wide, grouped in sections of three. It features an elliptical-arched entrance in the penultimate section to the right, with a single window above in the attic space, breaking the eaves to form a pediment. The tympanum of the pediment is filled in. Flanking windows are located at ground and attic levels, with the attic windows also breaking the eaves to form gableheads. To the right is a single-storey section with three openings, while a gabled porch with a timber door and narrow letterbox fanlight is situated to the left. Roundel details the gablehead above the porch. Single windows are positioned at re-entrant angles and flank at ground and attic floors, with attic windows breaking the eaves. A further single-storey wing to the far left has two-leaf doors, a narrow single window with a cat-slide roof, and a timber door to the re-entrant angle, alongside a single window to the right. A later addition to the extreme right includes two recessed windows, and gatepiers marking an inner entrance, with three more modern windows further along.

The courtyard's south-east elevation mirrors the main entrance. The south-west elevation has two entrances, one on either side, with a central two-light window set between them. The north-west elevation features two double entrances and a single entrance to the right, a single window to the far right, and four single windows to the left. The north-east elevation is notable for glazed timber doors, sidelights, and a four-light fanlight within an arch, leading to a covered yard.

The covered yard’s north-west elevation has three entrances. The south-west elevation features glazed timber doors, sidelights, and a four-light fanlight. The north-west elevation also contains a central entrance with fanlight, two single windows to the left, and a two-light window to the right. The south-west exposed elevation includes an entrance with a fanlight and sidelight to the right, a narrow slit window centered, and a single window and filled-in entrance to the right.

The windows are predominantly timber sash and case, with plate glass and either six, eight, twelve, or fifteen panes. The slate roof has stone skews, and abbreviated chimneys. Rainwater goods are made of cast iron.

The interior was not inspected in 1999.

Square gatepiers mark the central vehicular entrance along with flanking vehicular entrances at the outer left and right. A coped boundary wall encloses the site.