Description

Mid 19th century. 2-storey villa with attics; lower, 2-storey
addition to E doubling size, 1893, Alexander Skirving
architect. Scottish Jacobean features. Stugged ashlar
coursers with polished dressings, bull-faced low plinth over
slope at N. N elevation (windows mostly mullioned with
hood-moulds): left (1893) range recessed, with crenellated
porch projecting from re-entrant angle; conical-roofed,
round, angle turret at left (mullioned and transomed windows)
rising above eaves. Porch has pointed doorway with moulded
reveals, hood-mould and fanlight; perron with arcaded
balustraded, bull-faced piers and retaining wall; 2
wrought-iron lamps. Range to right has ground floor
tripartite, gabled dormerhead with dummy gun loop over window
above; right bay slightly advanced, 2-storey canted window
below pointed attic light, gable with kneelers.
String at 1st floor cill level. Mostly apex stacks. Slate
roofs. 2-storey canted window on W elevation, and
gambrel-roofed single storey wash house at SE both by
Skirving.
Interior: front ground floor rooms and hall have decorative
plasterwork cornices and ribbed ceilings; carved wooden
chimney pieces in hall and dining room. Fitted, low,
bookshelf cabinets in library incorporating chimneypiece.
Stair has unusual wood-framed balustrade. Modern steel fire
escape from attic to 1st floor. Leaded glass stair and porch
windows.
2 pairs of chamfered, square, gatepiers with shaped pyramidal
caps linked by low retaining wall; all ashlar. Decorative
wrought-iron gates.

Statement of Interest

Additions for James Robertson Blackie. Formerly the French

Institute.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17807504

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy