Description

William Burn, 1836; completed 1853. 2-storey, irregular-plan Jacobean style house with extensive service wing to N. Stugged and coursed cream sandstone; ashlar dressings (droved in part). Raised base course; architraved cill course; moulded eaves course. Narrow strip quoins; lugged and chamfered margins (round-arched lintel detail at 1st floor); sandstone mullions; chamfered cills. Pedimented windows breaking eaves at 1st floor; kneelered gables.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 3-bay at ground. Full-height gabled entrance bay advanced to outer left with 2-leaf timber panelled door at ground; pilastered doorpiece with coat-of-arms centred in surmounting curvilinear pediment; single window aligned at 1st floor; square niche centred in gablehead. Tripartite window at ground in bay recessed to right (narrow sidelights); single window aligned at 1st floor. Tripartite window advanced at ground in subsequent bay to right; 2 single windows at 1st floor. Lower, 3-bay service wing adjoined to right with bipartite window at ground in bay to left; single window at 1st floor; advanced central bay with bipartite window at ground; 1st floor window centred in gablehead; single windows at both floors in bay to outer right. Low coped wall adjoining house to SE; corniced, square-plan piers; square caps.

SE (GARDEN) ELEVATION: 3-bay at ground. Full-height canted bay off-set to right of centre with central tripartite windows at both floors (narrow sidelights); blind armorial panel centred in gablehead above. Single windows at both floors in bay recessed to outer right. Canted window at ground off-set to left of centre (narrow sidelights); 2 single windows at 1st floor.

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: 4-bay main house with service wing adjoined to outer left. Gabled bay to outer right with advanced tripartite windows at both floors (narrow sidelights); square niche centred in gablehead. Single windows at both floors in bay to left; tripartite windows at both floors off-set to left of centre; narrow single windows at both floors in pyramidal-capped, square-plan tower slightly advanced to outer left. Lower 2-storey, 2-bay service wing advanced to left with bipartite window at ground in bay to right; single window at 1st floor; depressed-arched sandstone seat recessed in projecting external chimney breast in bay to left. Single storey service block to outer left with oculus centred in gablehead; columnar verandah to side; further ancillary structures at rear.

NW (SIDE) ELEVATION: lower 2-storey service wing with single storey ancillary structures forming service courts.

4-, 5-, 10-, 12- and 15-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof; stone coped skews; moulded skewputts. Panelled and corniced apex, ridge and wallhead stacks; circular cans. Iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: marble and timber fireplaces. Decorative plaster cornices and friezes. Some timber dado panelling. Timber panelled doors; architraved surrounds; timber panelled shutters. Main dog-leg stair with stone treads, decorative iron balusters, timber handrail. Smaller service stair with stone treads, iron balusters, timber handrail. Service bells and meat hooks in place.

Statement of Interest

Noted in the Ordnance Survey Name Book as "...a large, neat and commodious mansion built in the Elizabethan style of architecture", Anton's Hill is a remarkably complete example of one of William Burn's 'cottage houses' dating from the 1830s - compare with Monkrigg (1834), Bryce's Bourhouse and Tyneholme (1835), Ninewells and Finnart (1839). Designed for the Dickson family in such a way that it could be built in stages, starting with the service wing and finishing with the principal rooms on the garden elevation. As built, the house follows the original designs fairly closely, despite taking 17 years to complete. According to J Hunter, Anton's Hill derives its name from an old well bearing the inscription 'Fons sacr. san. Anton. ac sanitat' (St Antony's Well is situated to the W). The gatepiers flanking the entrance to the NE are listed with the nearby 'East Lodge', whilst the quadrant walls and piers to the NW are listed separately. The walled garden, gardener's cottage, former steading and North gate lodge originally associated with the house are now all in separate ownership. The house itself was renovated in 1998.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17852132

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.

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