Description

Circa 1880, possibly incorporating earlier fabric. Single storey and attic, roughly 5-bay, irregular-plan cottage orné enlarged into a modest country house, with deep, bracketed, decoratively bargeboarded, T-braced eaves, finialled gables and steep-pitched multi-gabled roof. Rendered masonry with polished ashlar dressings and raised quoin strips. Base course to principal (SE) elevation and front sections of side elevations. Predominantly bipartite and tripartite stone-mullioned windows in chamfered margins, with hoodmoulds to ground-floor openings.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: entrance bay with timber-boarded front door and dormer above; 3 bays advanced to left with 2 large dormers to attic; 1-bay section recessed to right with 2 dormers to attic. Advanced central wing to rear with tripartite mullioned window to ground and 4-light mullioned window to 1st floor; advanced bay to right with stair tower in re-entrant angle and French doors in canted window to side (SW) elevation; lean-to to left with former rear doorway (now blocked) with rectangular fanlight.

Predominantly plate glass in timber casement windows to ground floor; plate glass in timber sash and case windows to dormers. Purple slate roof; fish-scale slate tiles to rear lean-to. Rendered coped stone stacks with black clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods supported by decorative brackets.

INTERIOR: fine 1930s interior with Tudor-style dark wood panelling with linenfold sections and stone fireplaces to principal ground-floor rooms.

COACH HOUSE AND STABLE BLOCK: early 20th century. Single storey and attic, rectangular-plan block with flat-roofed, bowed projecting entrance bay, external stair and M-gable to front, plain bargeboarded eaves, mock timber framing in gables, and entrances to coach house and stable to rear. Timber-boarded doors with 8-pane glazing in rectangular fanlights. Irregular fenestration. Timber-boarded partitions and brick floor to stable. Purple slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

GARAGE: probably 1950s. 4 bays with deep, bracketed, decoratively bargeboarded, T-braced eaves and finialled gables to match the style of the house.

Statement of Interest

A highly picturesque group comprising the former dower house of Sundrum Castle, remodelled and extended in the 1880s and with good earlier 20th century interiors, and related later outbuildings built in a sympathetic style. The house was originally known as Sundrum Cottage, and the drive to it was formerly a drive to the castle (listed separately); the bridge carrying it is also listed separately. It is likely that the roof of The Cushats was originally entirely fish-scale slated, as suggested by the remaining fish-scale slates on the rear lean-to. The 1930s interiors were probably carried out for Frank H MacPherson, Ayr solicitor, who died in January 1936 (information courtesy of Rob Close).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56615416

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
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  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record