Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock.      Architectural Information.    Listed Category "A" July 1980.

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Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock

1.   South West corner of the Theatre and Grand Hall from the Regent Street Car Park
Photograph:  18th February  2010

2.   Palace Theatre from Green Street (North West Facade)
Photograph:  18th February 2010

3.   NorthWest Facade and the Albert Tower
Photograph:  18th February 2010. 

Photographer:  ©M.Bailey


This site was once part of a public bleaching green, hence the street name 'Green Street', and subsequently was a fish market before the decision was made to build a Corn Exchange.

The Corn Exchange, built to designs by James Ingram (1799 - 1879 )in 1862-3 and extended by his son Robert Samson Ingram (1841 - 1915) in 1886, cost a total of £6,600 to construct; £6,000 came from a joint-stock company and the additional £600 was raised by public subscription and was earmarked for the erection of the Albert Tower in memory of the recently deceased Prince Consort.  The building is one James Ingram's finest designs in Kilmarnock.

As designed, the upper storey contained two large halls. One housed the Kilmarnock Library and the other was the Athenaeum Reading Room. During the late 1940s extensive alterations were carried out to create the Grand Hall.

A robust two storey Victorian classical exterior with a tall, 4-stage, campanile over the entrance. Converted to a variety theatre with a fully equipped stage in 1903. The theatre auditorium is long and narrow.  The interior is  modern and comfortable but of little note.


Description

A Red sandstone 2-storey building in the Italianate style, formerly the Corn Exchange Building.

13-bay elevation to Green Street; 9-bay elevation with later extension to London Road.

The highly decorative, octagonal Albert Tower at the angle. Banded rustication to ground floor; band course at 1st floor; regular fenestration of round-arched windows with keystones at 1st floor; bracketed cornice; panelled balustrade; urns surmounting central sections.

The facade overlooking Sturrock Street is the original building by Ingram senior; the 1886 additions by Ingram jnr. comprises the eight bays overlooking London Road (the North East facade).


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