Description

2- and 3-storey, irregular plan mansion house of various periods with inner courtyard and classical, Jacobean and baronial details, building history probably as follows; ealier 18th century, 3-storey, rectangualr plan house with asymmetrical single storey wings at rear, perhaps incorpporating earlier work at SW corner; NW wing raised, refaced and extended as dining room wing, and main staircase reconstructed earlier 19th century: 1st floor oriel windows added mid 19th century; variou additions by John Murray Robertson, 1892, including shaped gable pediments and angle turret to original house, ne entrance hall/billiard room/nursery wing at E (porch added circa 1897), 1st floor bedrooms at NE wing, larders and various service extensions at rear. Stugged coursers at S elevation of original building and 1892 addition, droved ashlar at NW wing, rubble at NE wing with stugged and snecked additions, original stair gable at N harled and margined, some 1892 additions at N painted brick. Grey slate roofs, piended and ogival at 1892 additions. Sash and case windows throughout, mostly plate glass glazing, 4-pane at 2nd floor of original house, 12-pane at NW wing and various ground floor windows at rear, thick astragalled 12- and multi-pane at stair gable; architraved at S elevation, shouldered at original house, mostly paired at E extension. Original house has wallhead band course, coped skews with skew blocks, end stacks. E addition has cill course at ground, 1st and 2nd floors, moulded wallhead course and weathercock at ogival roof, margined and keystoned oculus at shaped gable.

S ELEVATION: symmetrical, 3-bay earlier 18th century original house at left; keystoned shoulder-architraved doorcase at centre flanked by narrow windows, windows at left and right bays, tripartite oriels above at 1st floor, single window at centre, 3 windows at 1st floor with later sg

Statement of Interest

The house may have been built to supersede Claverhouse Castle, situated to the south and east. all of which has disappeared. Balmuir was owned by the Fothringhams of Powrie in the 15th century, passing to the Grahams of Meathie by the end of the 17th century. During the 18th century the Grahams, now of Balmuir adopted the surname Webster in compliance with a relative's will, and it was the Websters who sold the estate to John Sharp, flaxspinner in circa 1872. Sharp had commisioned Andrew Heiton of Perth to build Fernhall at West Ferry in circa 1866 (demolised, lodge listed at 69 Dundee Road), but engaged John Murray Robertson who had probaly worked at Heiton's office, to extend Balmuir. The attribution is stylistic, but the earlier Designs for Dining Room Chimneypieces is marked with Robertson's address and thus supports the attribution. The original house would seem to have been built by the Grahams, perhaps aggrandising the establishment by extending the NW dining room/kitchen wing following their change of name (and presumably fortune) to Webster. It was at this time that the staircase to the principal floor was probabaly moved from the staircase gable to the front hall. Included in B group with coach house/stables, dovecot, Garage Cottage, old stable and walled kitchen garden.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17778588

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)