Royal Buildings, 19, 21, 23 Main Street, Uddingston

Royal Buildings is a three-storey, 19-bay tenement building constructed in 1876 by builder Wilson Walker. Located at 19, 21, 23 Main Street and 4 Bellshill Road in Uddingston, it comprises shops at ground floor level with a former hotel at the corner with Bellshill Road, distinguished by a conical roofed corner tower.

The building is constructed of channelled red ashlar sandstone at ground level up to number 25, with mostly original shopfronts elsewhere. The remainder is finished in polished ashlar sandstone with polished dressings. The facades feature a base course, cornice above shop fascias, and a cill cornice to the first and second floors, all running continuously around the corner tower. A string course sits below a consoled cornice above the first floor, with a further cornice between the first and second floors to the tower. The tower displays a consoled and scalloped cornice. Windows have moulded, architraved margins, with those at first floor pedimented; the tower windows have chamfered reveals. Channelled quoins complete the detailing.

The Main Street elevation comprises 19 bays grouped 4-10-5. The central 10-bay block, slightly recessed, contains four shopfronts with two close doorways at ground level, and single windows grouped 3-2-2-3 at first and second floors, with tall wallhead stacks evenly disposed above. The four-bay block to the left, slightly advanced, has two shopfronts and a close doorway between at ground level. The first floor features two pedimented windows either side of the centre with two segmental-pedimented bipartites flanking. A date plaque to the centre bears a fan motif with an arched cornice and block above at second floor level. The four-bay block to the right, slightly advanced with the corner tower at the outer right, features a moulded round-arched doorway with mask keystone flanked by channelled pilasters with heavily carved consoles supporting a segmental pediment, set to the left at ground level. A shopfront occupies the outer left, with a single window to the centre and a bipartite to the right. The first floor displays a single pedimented window flanked by segmental-pedimented bipartites, with single windows flanked by bipartites at second floor. A fan motif with round-headed cornice wallhead stack appears above. The tower contains a modern door (formed from a three-light window) at ground level, three-light windows at each floor, and three narrow windows below the truncated conical roof with decorative wrought-iron brattishing.

The Bellshill Road elevation comprises four bays. A highly decorative doorpiece with Ionic colonettes and piers occupies the bay to the left of centre at ground level. The entablature features a bracketed cornice and balustraded parapet with angle dies and a central segmental panel bearing a harp motif and acroterion. A replacement two-leaf timber panelled door sits within this feature. A window occupies the bay to the left, with a barfront spanning two bays to the right. Windows to the first and second floors match the four right-hand bays of the Main Street elevation. A tall wallhead stack sits to the centre.

Shopfronts feature plate glass. Windows are predominantly two-pane timber sash and case, though some have been replaced with uPVC and hardwood versions. The roof is covered in grey slate, with slate also covering the conical tower roof; modern tiles cover numbers 7, 9 and 11. Tall, multiflue ashlar corniced and shouldered wallhead stacks rise above, truncated above number 9, with seven original cans surviving to numbers 23 and 25. Cast-iron rainwater goods are in place, with some moulded replacements.

The building was originally the Royal Hotel, constructed at a cost of £12,000 on the site of the village quoting green which had been occupied by a row of thatched cottages. A photograph in Jamieson's book shows the former Royal Hotel nearing completion in 1875-6. The hotel was not a commercial success, as it suffered from drunken behaviour on Sundays when hotels were the only venues permitted to sell alcohol on the Sabbath. Although drinks were intended for bona fide travellers only, local residents abused this provision. The date panel bears the initials WW of builder Wilson Walker. This terrace forms an important townscape element alongside the contemporary buildings at 2, 6 and 8 Old Glasgow Road, which are listed separately.