Description

Charles Ower and Charles G Soutar, dated 1903. 2-storey and attic, basically rectangular-plan, large Arts and Crafts style villa. Bull-faced rubble masonry with ashlar dressings, some half-timbered and harled gables, red tile piended-roofs. Cill course at ground and 1st floor on S and W elevations; windows transomed and mullioned at ground and 1st floor, mostly timber sash and case with small paned upper lights and moulded margins, casements at attic; cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers; bracetted eaves, plain bargeboards; coped stacks with mostly original terracotta cans.

W ELEVATION: 4-bay. Single-storey entrance porch at centre projecting from re-entrant angle, moulded doorcase with slender, spiralled doric column doorpiece and scrolled strapwork pediment, quasi-buckle quoins, dentilled cornice, curvilinear open-work strapwork parapet; tripartite window at recessed bay at right, 3 windows at 1st floor, tripartite dormer. Advanced gable at far right; chamfered angles and 2 inglenook windows at ground floor, similar windows at 1st with segmental lintels corniced stack with datestone rising from battered wallhead through jettied half-timbered gablehead, 2 windows flanking. Paired bays advanced at far left, each consisting of 4-light window at ground floor, canted oriel at 1st, jetteyed half-timbered gable with bipartite window at attic.

S ELEVATION: 3-bay, asymmetrical. Recessed bay at centre with tripartite French doors at ground and 1st floor, dormer above; open canted timber verandah at ground with multi-paned upper lights, scalloped timber balcony with Art-Nouveau wroght-iron work. Gable at left; 2-storey, 5-light rectangular projecting window (metal casements at ground) with swags and strapwork frieze at 1st floor, corbelled and jetteyed half-timbered gable with tripartite window. Advanced gable at right with canted window at ground and 1st floor, shaped gable with moulded coping and bipartite window.

E ELEVATION: wide slightly recessed bay at left with door masked by conservatory, window at right and at 1st floor; wide bay advanced at right with various windows at ground and 1st floor, 4-light tile-hung oriel at 1st floor re-entrant with ogival capped roof.

N ELEVATION: 3-bay. Bay at left with single window at ground; gable at right with exposed collar and posts at apex, windows at ground and attic; single storey centre bay with door and boarded fuel opening, piended-roof with large lantern, stair window to main house.

INTERIOR: of exceptional quality, Arts and Crafts with Art-nouveau details, including some original light fixtures, bathroom ceramics, door furniture and most chimneypieces. Rib-vaulted porch; oak panelled hall with canopied chimneypiece, built-in dresser, beamed ceiling, screen to stairs, original Liberty pattern stencilled jute frieze; panelled cloakroom. Large inglenook in panelled drawing room with mixed style chimneypiece and stained glass windows flanking. Library with built-in shelves and tree pattern frieze by Liberty; chimneypiece of coloured tesserae and flanking bow-fronted glazed cupboards. Dining room with dado and beamed ceiling, copper canopied and timber chimneypiece inscribed 'well befall hearth and hall'; built-in sideboards in similar style inscribed 'not meat but cheerfulness maketh thte feast'. Still room with ceramic cold slabs. Fitted napery. Oak staircase and panelling at landing, open-work balusters.

CONSERVATORY: at E with canted centre bay.

WALL AND GATEPIERS: rubble wall at W (Victoria Road) and 4 circular-section, hemispherically-capped, bull-faced masonry gatepiers with quadrants at S (Albert Street).

Statement of Interest

Although the drawings are signed by Charles Ower, the building is largely attributed to Soutar on stylistic grounds (MacAngus). Aystree was built for Col T H Smith. The house is in multiple occupancy but is virtually unaltered except the kitch; the lodges are in separate ownership and liste dindividually at 30 Victoria Road (including the coach house which remains in he same ownership at Aystree) and 1 albert Road.

A Group with Coach House and Lodges.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17575982

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living