Ardenvohr House, Gareloch Road, Rhu, Rhu, Argyll and Bute

Description

Thomas Gildard, dated 1857. Large, 2-storey, asymmetrical villa, now headquarters of the Royal Northern and ClydeYacht Club. Scots Baronial with Jacobethan details with tower over entrance. Stugged, squared and snecked honey-coloured sandstone with ashlar margins and dressings; string course; eaves course; base course; hoodmoulds; projecting sandstone, cannon-like rainpipes; crowstepped gables; buckle and star detailing; strapwork over ground floor windows. Gables capped by substantial dies with ball finials.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 4 asymmetrical bays, 2 bays to outer right slightly recessed. 3-stage tower entrance to left of centre; elaborate pedimented and finialled parapet on deeply-moulded corbels. Diagonal buttress to right at base of tower, entrance reached via steps, flanked by low waved wall with small die, ball finial. Round-headed door, inner archivolt and surround of rope moulding on colonettes; sandstone outer surround of nailhead moulding; panelled studded door; escutcheon above, stepped hoodmould. Window at 1st floor; tripartite window (stone mullions) at 3rd stage; parapet. 2 symmetrical bays to left, divided by Y-shaped rainwater goods framing datestone shield, eaves course raised to finialled pediment, star motif, wallhead stack behind. Windows symmetrically disposed in flanking bays. Gabled bay slightly recessed to outer right. Gable to outer right with canted window at ground, stone roof; bipartite window at 1st floor, strapwork over, ball finial set in small niche; apex pediment; recessed window at ground, heavy corbelling above; small window at 1st floor.

SE (GARDEN) ELEVATION: 3-bay main block with recessed 4th bay to outer left, modern flat-roofed brick and glazed bar extension to outer left. Gable to outer right with full-height canted bay, stone transomed and mullioned 4-light windows, star motif in panels between ground and 1st floor, stone roof interrupted by shield, stepped over. 2 windows symmetrically disposed at ground to left, bipartite at centre at 1st floor, square dormer above. Gable to outer left slightly advanced, ground floor blocked by modern extension, timber, transomed and mullioned window at 1st floor; apex pediment. Recessed bay to outer left, obscured at ground by extension, star-studded gabled dormerhead.

NW ELEVATION: 3-bay main block with crowstepped gable to outer right, balustraded link-wall and service block advanced SW. Eaves course raised to finialled pediments below wallhead stacks symmetrically disposed to outer right and left; 3 windows grouped at centre at 1st floor. canted bay to outer left at ground, stone roof, stepped string course. Window with strapwork to right. Small door to outer right, modern forestair; large stair window, string course stepped as hoodmould; gable to outer right. Balustraded linking screen wall with strapwork pediment at centre above balustrade, door at ground to right; gable of service block to right.

Plate glass, 4-pane sash and case windows; 8-lying-pane sash and case windows for service block. Grey slate roof; moulded skewputts. Apex and wallhead, corniced stacks. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods with fleur-de-lis fixtures, pass through eaves moulding and string course.

INTERIOR: ashlar rib vaulted roof to porch; good stair hall with dark, oak doors, main door tripartite, half-glazed, open pediment; heavy panelled lugged and shouldered doors. Galleried stair hall, heavy carved and moulded stair; elaborate plasterwork with roof light. Compartmentalised ceilings in ground floor rooms, strapwork details and ceiling roses.

SERVICE BLOCK: stugged, squared and snecked sandstone, single storey and attic, rectangular-plan, aligned NE-SW. 5 asymmetrical bays. Bipartite shouldered-arch window to outer left at ground, window to right with gabled dormerhead above, narrow window to right and door, boarded, letterbox fanlight off-centre to right, 2 windows to right.

TERRACE AND BALUSTRADE: located to SE of house. Stylised sandstone balusters; corniced dies with buckle motif, curved console motif.

Statement of Interest

Ardenvohr is a large and well-detailed example of a grand mid 19th century baronial villa. Built for Daniel Walkinshaw in 1857 as Ardenvohr it later became the estate of the Muir family and is now the headquarters of the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club. It is regionally significant as the Clyde Estatury was a prime location for large country estates for wealthy Glasgow industrialists and merchants. The Royal Northern was originally based in Rothesay but moved its clubhouse to Ardenvohr in Rhu in 1937. It merged with the Royal Clyde in 1978.

Thomas Gildard was a local architect who formed a partnership with Robert Hutchison Murdoch Macfarlane between 1853 and 1864. Ardenvohr was a major residential commission during their partnership.

The Nothern Yacht Club began in the early to mid 19th century. A royal charter was granted in 1830 and it is believed the Northern was the first yacht club to receive it. The clubhouse contains paintings, photographs, models and written works that document the full history and heritage of the club.

Ardenvohr lodge and gates, and the tower and stable block are listed separately.

List description updated as part of the sporting buildings thematic study (2012-13).

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.