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Summary

Description

Alexander Stephen (Burgh Engineer), 1930. Single-storey, 10-bay cast-iron shelter with glazed roof (relocated from West Pier to Mid Pier - 2010) and former cabbie's office/store (remaining on West Pier). Originally the taxi cab staging area for vistors arriving in Rothesay by steamer (see Notes).

CABBIE'S REST SHELTER (MID PIER): 10-bay, rectangular-plan shelter with 22 equally-disposed cast-iron columns; riveted cast-iron trusses with curving collar-braces; opaque-glazed piended roof. Decorative cast-iron frieze to E, N and S elevations. Half-engaged columns to W with infill panels and 8-pane tripartite glazing set between. Ornamental cast-iron finials to N and S.

FORMER OFFICE/STORE (WEST PIER): Map Ref: NS 08818 64763. 3-bay, square-plan, cast-iron former cabbie's office/store with raised plinth and engaged corner columns. Door to W. Multi-pane margin-light glazing pattern with opaque multi-coloured stained glass.

Statement of Special Interest

The Cabbie's Rest is an early and ornate example of a cast-iron taxi-cab shelter, described by Frank Walker as a "cast iron structure in the best tradition of railway architecture". The structure was built to shelter the staging area on the west pier for horse-drawn cabs awaiting visitors arriving in Rothesay by steamer. Erected in 1930 under the direction of Rothesay's Burgh Engineer, Alexander Stephen, components of the shelter were prefabricated by the renowned Saracen iron foundry of Walter McFarlane and Co, Glasgow. The diamond Saracen mark is found on the shelter's infill panels.

The shelter was relocated from the West Pier to the adjacent Mid Pier in 2010 as part of Rothesay Harbour development works. The cast-iron office/store component of the structure, previously adjoining the shelter to the W, remains in its original location on the West Pier and presently operates as a catering facility (2013). An 1874 cabmen's rest-stop building of similar dimensions previously existed on the site.

The Saracen foundry (1851-1966) had strong connections with the Isle of Bute, supplying the outstanding former Winter Gardens Theatre in 1923 (see separate listing) and numerous earlier fixtures including lamp posts, railings, bandstands and ornamental planters manufactured by McFarlane's company for the town's esplanade and pleasue gardens.

Rothesay is one of Scotland's premier seaside resorts, developed primarily during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries on the site of an earlier medieval settlement. The town retains a wide range of buildings characteristic of its development as a high status holiday resort including fine villas, Victorian piers and promenade. Buildings from this period reflect the wealth of the town during its heyday as a tourist destination.

List description and Statutory Address revised, 2013. Previously listed as "West Pier, Cabbies' Shelter".

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