Description

Stewart Tod and Partners, 1987-89. Single storey, octagonal summer house with basement on lower ground formed with terraced wall, tailor-made to contain exceptional and rare earlier 18th century panelling from summer house at Polton. Sited to N of Dowery House at end of main drive. Harled brick and concrete block, with stone facings to main door, concrete margins to further openings, cornice.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: entrance to E elevation with doorway on narrow flank to centre with block lintel and pointed arch, Y-traceried fanlight, approached by short flight of railed steps, and with studded timber door; flanking canted sides with pointed arch niches containing pedestalled acorn finials.

N and S elevations form mirror images with boarded door to basement at centre, blank above, small window in flank to rear with window to summerhouse above. W elevation with wallhead stack to centre face.

Timber sash and case windows, Y-traceried upper sashes. Graded grey slates to polygonal roof with weathervane finial and cast-iron rooflight.

INTERIOR: lined with Polton panelling, each panel bearing trompe-l'oeil painting of stylised fielded panelling with 'O' to centre. Chimneypiece to W wall with moulded surround, pulvinated frieze and moulded mantelpiece. Coved timber cornice to ceiling with further painted board, trompe- l'oeil panelling. Plastered walls to basement; water closets.

Statement of Interest

Previously listed as 'Stobhall, Summer House'. Part of A Group with HB numbers 79, 5473-5, 5477, 5479-81. This fine building, known as the Folly, is placed at the end of a long tree-lined drive to the E and on raised ground overlooking the River Tay to the W. To the S is a terraced walk with garden walls, gatepiers and gates isolating the Folly from the formal gardens and Dowery House. The unusual design incorporates toilets in the raised basement, and has been tailored to accommodate the very fine painted panelling of c1725 from the summer house in the grounds of the former Polton House, Lasswade. The panelling had been listed prior to its removal to Stobhall. The Polton House summer house was a square-plan building, hence removal of the panelling to the current polygonal-plan structure required skilled workmanship, commemorated with the initials of the joiners 'A' (Alistair Small) and 'W' (Wally) above the SW window, and those of the Penzance School artist, Brian Ingham, above the NW window. Brian Ingham did a lot of work at Stobhall, including the overmantel in the library. The letter 'O' in the panelling has been linked to the Oliphant family, but there is as yet no documentary evidence to this effect, and the initials 'P' and 'NP' inside the door are those of the 17th Earl Perth and Nancy Perth.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17575258

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)