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Summary

Description

An earlier 19^th century, two-storey, three-bay, classical villa consisting of two flatted dwellings, likely built in or around the 1830s, fronting the shore esplanade at Albert Road, West Bay, Gourock.

The villa is constructed of red sandstone with a painted render to the front elevation. It has exposed ashlar quoins, base and eaves course margins, ashlar dressings, and a projecting moulded cornice surmounted by a blocking course. A pilastered door piece with a cornice and tabletted blocking course is fronted by three stone steps. The door is panelled timber with a plate glass top light. Flanking the door are top-hung sash-and-case style window frames with a six-pane upper glazing pattern.

The rear elevation has a projecting stone forestair with ornamental iron railings accessing an oversailing landing with a timber porch. Openings to the ground floor have been altered. The ashlar dressings of two blocked windows are visible at the south (gable) elevation.

The interior, seen in 2025, retains its original flatted floorplan arrangement with a central hallway and two large front rooms. Both apartments have moulded cornicing, timber wall presses and cupboard recesses, working timber panelled shutters, and consoled cornice plasterwork decoration in the hallways of early 19^th-century character. The upper floor has two cast iron fireplaces.

Stone gable end chimney stacks and a grey slate roof covering were removed from the building in 2021.

Historical development

Gourock was an early resort for sea-bathing, popular with summer visitors from Paisley and Glasgow from at least the 18^th century.

Summer lodgings and residences became increasingly popular with the introduction of steamer ships on the Clyde after 1812, and the enlarging of the steamer pier at Gourock in 1840. Numerous villas at Gourock's West Bay (Albert Road) had been built by the early 1840s (Edinburgh Witness 1842, Greenock Advertiser 1844). The 'Low Gourock Road' became known as Albert Road after the esplanade and sea wall were constructed in 1899 at the height of Gourock's popularity as a Clyde resort town.

A building at Nos 12 and 13 Albert Road is first depicted on Thomas Grainger's map of 1836, which shows intermittent shorefront development along the West Bay. A building with the same footprint is shown in detail on the 1856 Ordnance Survey map, with upper entrance stair to rear. The map also shows that around 70 resort villas had been completed along the West Bay shorefront by that time.

An additional lodging (No.14), with gable end fronting the sea, was appended to the south gable of No. 12 and 13 before 1856. The availability of sufficient land to build an additional property suggests that No. 12 and 13 was constructed when the sea frontage at West Bay was less of a premium. The later villa addition was demolished in 2011 (Inverclyde Council, LBE-280-2001).

Nos 12 and 13 have continued in residential use since the mid- 19^th century.

Statement of Special Interest

12 and 13 Albert Street meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

• Despite later alterations, it remains a good example of its early 19^th century simple classical villa type, with additional interest, in this specific location, as a flatted house.
• For its surviving exterior and interior details of early 19^th century character including rear access stair, plan form and layout, uninterrupted roofline, and lack of later additions affecting its typical 2-storey, 3-bay arrangement.
• For its relatively unaltered shorefront / esplanade setting.
• As an early component of a significant linear development of classical shorefront villas that enhance an understanding of Gourock's history as a popular tourist destination.

Architectural interest

Design

The modest classical massing, proportions and detailing of 12 and 13 Albert Road are characteristic of earlier 19^th century villa design often associated with fashionable seaside resorts of the period in Scotland.

While many examples of this building type have been altered with later bay, porch, dormer or wing additions, No. 12 and 13 Albert Road retains its simple classical proportions, rear stair, plan form and uninterrupted roofline .

Many of the earlier 19^th century classical villas along the West Bay shore were designed as flatted accommodation to specifically cater for the resort trade. The internal plan form of Nos 12 and 13 continues to be separated into lower and upper apartments which is accessed by a prominent rear stone stair. The design and layout continue to characterise, despite later alterations (including the loss of the chimney and traditional roof covering and windows), the earliest house types of Gourock West Bay and this form directly relates to the early development of the planned town.

The interior has a fixed decorative scheme including numerous elements of early 19^th century character which add to the special interest.

Setting

The building is located at the north end of Albert Road, West Bay, close to Gourock's town centre at Kempock Point. It is set within a long run of around 70 villas hugging the shoreline at the West Bay, which are shown on the 1856 Ordnance Survey map.

It groups well with its grander, classical neighbour at No 16 and 17 Albert Road (LB33979, category B). Other nearby listed buildings include the Gourock War Memorial (LB33976, category C) which is located on the opposite side of Albert Road.

The loss of its immediate neighbour (No 14 Albert Road), which was higher and slightly later in date, has not adversely affected Nos 12 and 13, and in some respects has improved our reading of its classical proportions within the wider setting.

The wider setting of the building has not altered significantly since the late 19^th century, with all front-facing rooms having views over the Clyde Estuary, contributing to our understanding of the development of the town as a popular resort during the 19^th century.

Historic interest

Age and rarity

12 and 13 Albert Road is likely to have been among the first villas constructed along the West Bay shorefront in Gourock and probably dates to the 1820s-30s. It is part of a run of around 70 pre-1856 seafront villas overlooking the Firth of Clyde. Several of these buildings have the same or similar doorpieces to No 13.

While earlier-mid 19^th century residential villas are not a rare building type in Scotland, 12 and 13 Albert Road is an early example that retains its classical proportions, interior fixtures and much of its historic setting as part of a 19^th century development of similar buildings. This interest is also recognised through the designation of a conservation area in 2015 and the listing of a number of other properties along the waterfront.

Social historical interest

12 and 13 Albert Road is among the earliest properties in an extended run of shorefront villas. This area expanded rapidly during the early 19th century as a tourist resort and sea-bathing destination. As a building that retains its historic character and wider setting, 12 and 13 Albert Road contributes to an understanding of Gourock's history as a growing and popular resort.

Association with people or events of national importance

There is no association with a person or event of national importance.

Listed building record revised in 2025.

References

Bibliography

About Listed Buildings

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