The George Kerr Trail

The trail starts at St John’s Primary School and is self-guided thereafter. The architect George Kerr (1865-1927) could be called the ‘Charles Rennie Mackintosh’ of Alloa, such was his interest in and use of motifs favoured by his famous contemporary. In 1893 he settled in Alloa, where in 1896 he set up his own practice at 30 Mar Street.

1. St John’s Primary School (1908), Grange Road, Alloa Formerly the Grange School and now celebrating its centenary, this has huge gables and a two-storey central hall with curving glazed roof. Classrooms are arranged around the hall on both floors, with staff offices on mezzanine levels at each end. Beautifully proportioned, the curved mouldings, sculpture and lettering above the entrances are in Art Nouveau style. Most of the interior, with decorative tiling and many other features, remains intact and the building still continues to function very effectively as a school. Photographs of the old ‘Cookery School’ flat which Kerr redesigned and refitted in the former Alloa Academy Infant School in Ludgate, currently under threat of redevelopment, will be on display. 10.00 - 1.00 Guided tours and displays

2. SMS Motor Accessory Store (1905), Bedford Place, Alloa Designed for J B Whyte, Cycle and Motor Cycle Agent, the façade has been altered but still has the simple Art Nouveau glazing and “eyebrow” moulding, a favourite motif of Kerr. (Exterior only)

3. Happit (1903), Mill Street, Alloa Kerr’s earliest surviving building, formerly The Hosiery, is less innovative than the later ones, though the pedimented “eyebrow” moulding is still a feature. (Exterior only)

4. Abbey National Building Society (1921), Mill Street, Alloa This was designed for Mario Fusco and called the Soda Fountain Bar, operating until the 1970s and fondly remembered for serving excellent coffee and ice cream. The superb teak façade and mosaic threshold tiling have survived and illustrate many of Kerr’s favourite details, including the ‘coffee bean’ motif. (Exterior only)

5. Alloa Co-op Bowling Club (1925), Sunnyside Road, Alloa Formerly the Cooperative Society Sports Pavilion, this displays many of Kerr’s design hallmarks, including decorative tiled fireplaces, tapering interior fittings and balcony columns, and elliptical roof lights in the elegant upper hall. 2.00 - 4.00 Guided tours.