Description

Dated 1692; tower added late 19th century; renovated and converted to nurses residence 1979 by Wheeler and Sproson; 1990s converted to health centre. 3-storey, L-plan house with later rear wing and engaged circular stair tower. Harled with stone margins. Eaves course. Carved stone dormerheads.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 4-bay recessed face with dwarf walls flanking path to ground floor with corniced and pedimented roll-moulded doorcase with monogrammed frieze to left of centre, 2 windows to right and further window to left; regular fenestration to bays 2, 3 and 4 at 1st and 2nd floor, the latter with monogrammed dormer gableheads breaking eaves, that to outer right dated. Advanced gable to left of centre with 2 windows to each floor and broad gablehead stack; further window to each floor on return to right, that to 2nd floor as above. Finialled, conical-roofed round stair tower in re-entrant angle with window to each floor, that to 2nd floor pedimented.

W ELEVATION: chimney gable to left of centre; 3 windows to each floor, those to 2nd floor centre and left small with chimney gable above, and that to right breaking eaves as above. Wall-mounted angle sundial to outer right at 1st floor.

N ELEVATION: almost full height single bay wing projecting to left of centre, 2 windows to right and further window to left at 1st and 2nd floors, the latter with crowstepped dormerheads breaking eaves, that to E replaced 1978; further lower wing projecting to right of centre.

E ELEVATION: blank gable with dominant gablehead stack.

12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Coped and harled stacks with cans; ashlar-coped skews with scroll skewputts to each gable.

GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALL: rusticated and harled, square-section, coped gatepiers with ashlar-coped harled boundary walls.

Statement of Interest

Formerly listed as Dunnikier House, the name was changed to Path House after the Fife Health Board restoration of 1979, which received both a Saltire Society commendation and a Kirkcaldy Civic Trust award, and involved "total internal replanning and external masonry restoration". The Dunnikier Estate passed from the Watson to the Oswald family, soon after the marriage of John Watson to Euphan Orrock, about the year 1692 when this house (formerly Dunnikier) was built; the monograms bear a variety of 'IW's and 'EO's. The present Dunnikier House (listed separately) situated to the N of Kirkcaldy was built in 1790. The gatepiers and screen wall (and possibly the rear wing and stair tower) date from the early 18th century, and further alterations occurred during renovation in 1891 when it became the manse for Dunnikier Church. MacGibbon & Ross' drawing (prior to the round stairtower) shows a moulded panel over the door and much smaller openings. Late 19th century work presumably done by same architect who built Lodge (to new Dunnikier House) in Hayfield Road.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Kirkcaldy, 3-9 Nether Street, Path House (Pathhead Medical Centre) at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17572161

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, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)