Savoy Park Hotel, 16 Racecourse Road, Ayr

Savoy Park Hotel

This large detached villa, now hotel, was designed by James A Morris in 1896 and stands on a corner site at 16 Racecourse Road, Ayr. It comprises two storeys and an attic, built to an asymmetric plan. The building was altered in 1898 and again between 1906 and 1909. It is constructed from stugged and snecked red sandstone with polished ashlar dressings.

The south-east (entrance) elevation features steps leading to an iron and glass entrance porch, above which sits a 3-light arched leaded light with hoodmould. Two single windows occupy the first floor beneath a hoodmould and relieving arch. A detailed console-supported gabled bay rises through the eaves, containing a 3-light window and a roundel to its gablehead. To the left, a 3-light mullioned and transomed window sits within a bay crowned by an open segmental pediment bearing a thistle motif, with a single window above at first floor and a single gabled window at attic level. Pilaster strips flank two windows at ground and first floor to an adjoining bay, topped by a two-window platformed attic gable. A crenellated advanced ground-floor bay contains a 3-light mullioned and transomed window, with a mullioned window to the right return and a 3-light window aligned above at first floor, surmounted by a two-window platformed attic gable. A timber door at first stage and single windows at the second and third stages mark a later square-plan tower to the outer left. Two single windows occupy the ground floor and one the first floor in the bay to the right of the entrance, with a single window at ground and first floor in the adjacent bay to the right and a pierced roundel above. A blank gable fronts a single-storey advanced penultimate bay to the right. A circular conical-roofed turret bay occupies the re-entrant angle to the left, featuring a glazed timber door at ground floor, a 2-light leaded window above, a single window above that, and a keyhole opening beneath the turret eaves. A later, lower two-storey wing extends to the outer right.

The north-west (rear) elevation displays a single mullioned window to the outer right at ground floor. A canted penultimate bay features 3-light windows to its principal face and 2-light windows to the canted sides, with a glazed timber door and letterbox fanlight to the inner canted face and a split window aligned above, crowned by a single gabled dormer at attic. An adjoining canted bay contains 2-light windows to the principal face and single windows to the canted sides, with a glazed timber door and small-paned square fanlight above to the outer canted bay. A 6-light window serves a single-storey crenellated bowed bay, flanked by a glazed timber door to the left and aligned by two bipartite and one single window at first floor with a catslide dormer at attic. Lower two-storey bays to the left feature two single windows at ground and a bipartite window at first floor breaking the eaves. A central bay contains single windows at ground and first floor with an additional narrow window to the right at ground floor. A canted bay to the left displays regular fenestration at ground and first floor with a mullioned first-floor window. A timber door links to a single-storey adjoining wing, with a 2-light window to the outer left and a timber entrance door to the right, followed by a 2-light window to the outer right.

The north-east and south-west elevations were not inspected in 1999.

Windows predominantly comprise plate glass timber sash-and-case designs with 4- and 6-pane upper sashes. The roof is slate with rooflights, stone skews, corniced pitched stacks, and circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods complete the external detailing.

The interior features tiled floors, a timber staircase, timber-panelled rooms, a half-timbered ceiling, timber fireplaces, and painted plasterworked ceilings.

The site is enclosed by a boundary wall with a coped top. The red square-plan sandstone gatepiers to Savoy Park are topped with a corniced, segmental-headed pediment and iron gate. Two pairs of square-plan gatepiers front the Racecourse Road elevation, their heads to the principal entrance fitted with lantern lights, with a wall-mounted postbox between them. A timber garden outhouse with pilaster strips and a red-tiled roof sits within the grounds.