Bathgate, 17-19 Whitburn Road, The Dreadnought Hotel

George Place

Reception area to Bathgate from the east, fronted on the north side by the Royal Hotel, c.1840, with its quoins and balustrade, probably an aggrandisement of an earlier building.

The Emporium Building, 1916, T R Irvine, gives scale to the corner of Whitburn Road at Grieg's Corner; giant Ionic colonnade facing Whitburn Road, Ionic-pilastered pavilions flanking the corner and wings with, above, a curiously balustraded attic storey over the cornice. Clydesdale Bank, 1913, built by W T Oldrieve as the post office, is particularly distinguished Scots Revival; harled, stone margins, fine dormer windows, corner turret and carved entrance doorway. Dreadnought Hotel, Whitburn Road, 1900, J G Fairley, somewhat heavyweight baronial in the manner of a commercial hotel, crowstepped gables, bay windows and pedimented entrance. The nearby Social Work Offices, 1988, Campbell & Arnott, a sprightly courtyard in buff brick and red pantiles, presents twin Italianate gables to the roundabout, with colourful yellow lintels, blue and green steel trim to its lofty, pedimented, entrance canopy.

Taken from "West Lothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Stuart Eydmann, Richard Jaques and Charles McKean, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

Substantial red sandstone building. Three storey, five bays to front eight to side. Crowstep gables on the dormers. Substantial one and two storey extension to rear.

Architect James Graham Fairley was born in 1846 at West Calder, the eldest son of William Fairley, millwright and engineer, and his wife Elizabeth Graham. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and his training commenced with four years of practical building experience in his father's business. His practice was primarily West Lothian and Dundee-based, but he also had connections in the United States where he designed two very large houses. (Dictionary of Scottish Architects)