Doggartland House and Bridge, Dalry and West Kilbride, North Ayrshire

Description

A 2-storey, 3-bay asymmetric Italianate villa, which dates to around 1874 and is situated within its own grounds with an advanced left bay. The building is of coursed sandstone with painted ashlar margins and has a deep base course. Some of the windows have moulded architraves. The principal elevation is to the east and has centrally placed steps which lead to a segmental-arched, flat-roofed entrance porch which is supported on capitals with foliate decoration. The entrance door is timber panelled. The advanced bay to the left has canted bay windows to each storey. There is a shallow projecting tripartite window to the right with outer piers and slender inner shafts with foliated capitals. Three of the upper storey windows are segmental-arched with foliated capital shafts. There are broad projecting eaves with paired brackets and a simple cornice.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the single storey courtyard buildings to the north.

The windows are mainly timber sash and case with plate-glass glazing. The piended platform roof has grey slates and end chimney stacks with decorative cans.

The interior was seen in 2016. There is a largely 19th century room layout and a shallow-tread dog-leg stair with a timber handrail and metal balusters and with ball newels. The main public rooms and hall have decorative cornicing and ceiling roses.

There is a brick walled garden to the west of the house with curved coping and with openings to the north and east walls.

There is a single span iron bridge to the south of the house with splayed ends. The balustrade is elaborately detailed and has colonettes and cusped arches. The outer ends have stone plinths with tall lamp-posts.

Two pairs of unusual octagonal painted stone gatepiers lie at the west northwest entrance. One pair is taller that the other and they have panelled heads and pagoda-type caps.

Statement of Interest

Dating from 1874, Doggartland House is a good example of a small country villa built for a Glasgow manufacturer, probably as a weekend and holiday house. It is of interest for its exterior decorative detail and for its surviving ancillary structures, which include a walled garden, unusual octagonal gatepiers and an elaborately decorated iron bridge over the Rye Water. It retains its immediate rural setting, as depicted on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1895.

Age and Rarity

Doggartland House first appears on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map, published in 1895. Its exact date is uncertain, but one of the outbuildings in the single storey courtyard to the north of the house is dated 1874 and this is a likely date for the house. On the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, published in 1858, there is a rectangular building called Doggartland on the site of the courtyard. It is not known if any of the fabric of this older building was incorporated into the courtyard of the new Doggartland House.

Access to the property is via a road to the northwest, through two sets of elaborate gatepiers. There is no current vehicle access to the property over the iron bridge at the south. It is not clear from the map evidence whether there was access to the house across this bridge, although a photo of unknown date shows a further two sets of gatepiers and gates with central vehicle access and flanking pedestrian access at the south end of the bridge. These are no longer in situ.

Jacobsen (2014) notes that Doggartland House was built by a William Wylie, a tube manufacturer in Glasgow, who built it for his wife, Margaret Reid. The census records of 1891 mention only a servant and a housekeeper in residence, which suggests that the house may have been used only at weekends or holidays. The house was divided into two properties around the 1950s-60s, but was re-established as a single house in the 1970s.

It was not unusual for wealthy manufacturers and businessmen in Glasgow to build villas set in their own garden grounds for holidays and weekends. Ayrshire was a popular location, with many large houses built in Ayr and Troon during the late 19th century. Sandhill House in Troon, (LB50154, listed at category B) is a typical example.

An iron bridge is an uncommon additional structure to the group around the house. The elaborate design of the balustrades marks the bridge out as having been carefully designed to form an impressive feature in the grounds. The gatepiers to the north are also a very unusual design. Larger house sometimes had associated lodges, but this is not apparent at Doggartland. A walled garden is a typical addition to a small country house, and in this case it adds to the completeness of the group of the structures around the house.

As a later 19th century villa in typical Glasgow style, Doggartland House is not an unusual building type, nor early in date. However, it has some good architectural detailing and notable associated structures including a distinctive and unusual bridge and gatepiers.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The house has good decorative cornicing and ceiling roses in its public rooms. This is typical for a house of this size and date where high quality decoration would have been standard. The staircase does have decorative newels, but overall, the staircase is less ornate and prominent than those found at other houses of a similar date.

Plan form

The external square plan form of Doggartland House is typical for a house of this date.

Internally the house has the standard plan of public rooms being on the ground floor and to the front of the house, with the utility rooms to the rear. The room to the right hand side of the entrance may have been a reception room with direct access from the exterior (information courtesy of current owner 2017).

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

Doggartland House has some unusual decorative features including the foliate details to the columns and the porch and the very broad eaves. These give it its distinctive appearance.

There is currently no known architect for the building.

The elaborate design of the iron bridge is a particular feature at the house and iron is not a typical material to choose for a bridge, as stone would have been more commonly used.

The octagonal gatepiers are also a very unusual and eye-catching design.

Setting

The house is set within its own garden grounds to the north of the Rye Water, with its own complete walled garden, decorative iron bridge and single storey courtyard buildings (which are not included in the listing). Apart from substantial industrial development in the lands further to the east, and residential development further to the south, the immediate surroundings of the house remain largely rural in character, with the overall pattern of land division similar to that mapped on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map of 1895. The house is not easily visible from the road.

Regional variations

There are no known regional variations.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2017).

Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2017. Previously listed as 'Doggartland House and Bridge'.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.