Description

John Kinross, 1897. 2-storey, Scottish seventeenth century style house with angle tower, abutting earlier court. Tall square rubble sandstone base course, harled above with ashlar dressings; chamfered arrises; buckle-quoin detailing; eaves course.

W ELEVATION: 3-bay with polygonal, 2-stage corner tower to outer right. Roll-moulded door surround at centre with carved fleur-de-lys above lintel, boarded door; large windows to each floor in flanking bays, those at 1st floor breaking eaves, pilaster-flanked and with pedimented dormerheads carved with strapwork detailing (after Heriot?s Hospital /Glasgow College type).

TOWER: polygonal ashlar 2-stoge tower with dividing cornice, set in re-entrant angle formed with earlier court (in manner of seventeenth century stair tower). Narrow window at ground in NW facet, and armorial panel (Miller) above at eaves level; pedimented narrow window at 1st floor to SE facet; nailhead eaves course, cornice and polygonal, ogee roof with lead ball finial.

E ELEVATION: to farm court. 3-bay. Advanced gable to left. Door at centre in roll-moulded surround with date carved above (1897); large stair window above; stairhead breaking eaves in gabled wallhead dormer with curvilinear gablehead and small pedimented window with carved fleur-de-lys as apron. Large window in bay to right at ground. Bay to left advanced with right angle chamfered at ground with small window, corebleed to square above, window to each floor of gable, that at 1st floor with strapwork pediment carved above.

N ELEVATION: blind gable to drive way. Open pedimented high-relief panel (uncarved) in moulded surround in gablehead.

S ELEVATION: tower to outer left, clasping slightly advanced gable breaking eaves at centre. Abutted at ground by lean-to implement sheds of farm court.

Small-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows (upper sashes larger in principal windows). Grey-green slates. Ashlar coped skews with roll-moulded skewputts. Ashlar gablehead stacks with cornices and battered coping. Ashlar ridges. Decorative lead rainwater hoppers and square downpipes.

Spur stones protecting corners onto drive and farm court.

INTERIOR: not seen 1995.

GATEPIERS: pair of ashlar gatepiers flanking drive to NW, corniced with large pyramidal finials on ball feet. Spur stone.

GARDEN WALLS: curved enclosure to front garden to W of house, comprised of dwarf wall with wide stone piers at intervals, sawtooth coped to outer side, with fine wrought-iron railings in between, possibly by Thomas Hadden. Wall continues to base course height to N with en suite pedestrian gate.

Statement of Interest

The Engineer's House displays a wide repertoire of seventeenth century details, the whole in a design catering for modern convenience (hence generous fenestration). The design for the tower is close to that at Ford House, Midlothian, but may also have drawn upon James MacLaren?s The Park, Ledbury, 1886, or possibly Charles Rennie Mackintosh?s Queen Mary College, Glasgow, 1894, as well as the historic precedents in many 17th century laird?s houses. Part of the A Group comprised of the complex at Buxley.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17571548

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)