Description

James Miller, circa 1900. Asymmetrical 2-storey, 3-bay Arts and Crafts style house recessed at centre with flanking gabled and piended bays; single storey porch recessed to outer right. Whitewashed harl; painted margins; red tile-hanging beneath gablehead. Painted base course; overhanging timber bracketed eaves; bolted timber bargeboards to gableheads (tile-hung to W).

W (BENTINCK DRIVE) ELEVATION: bipartite window centred at ground; 2-light cat-slide dormer off-set to right above. Single window at ground in full-height piended, projecting bay to outer right; bipartite window aligned at 1st floor. Projecting gabled bay to outer left comprising bipartite window at ground off-set to right of centre; canted window on single timber bracket centred at 1st floor beneath tile-hung apex. Porch recessed to outer right.

S (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 5-bay. Red sandstone, ball-finialed steps to advanced, boldly buttressed porch in bays to left of centre; part-glazed timber panelled door to right; timber brackets beneath surmounting canopy; single windows in 2 bays to left. Single windows at ground in bays to outer left and right. Single window breaking eaves beneath gabled bay to outer right; single window breaking eaves off-set to right of gabled bay to left; buttressed wallhead stack to outer left.

Small-paned leaded timber casement glazing throughout. Swept red tile roofs; pantile ridge detailing; cast-iron rainwater goods. Sandstone coping to whitewashed harl ridge and wallhead stacks (pantiled buttressing to S); circular terracotta cans.

INTERIOR: not seen 1997.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: red sandstone coping to stepped, whitewashed harl wall enclosing site to front. Square-plan piers flanking entrance; pyramidal sandstone caps; timber gates.

Statement of Interest

Designed for Alexander Walker, the grandson of Johnnie Walker. A significant figure in Troon, Walker was on the committee which commissioned the town's Municipal Buildings from Miller from 1915 - see separate list entry, South Beach, Town Hall. With its leaded glazing, bolted bargeboards, overhanging eaves and buttressed entrance, 'Rowallan' remains virtually as it was when first built. Miller's oeuvre was extensive - encompassing steel-framed railway architecture, neo-Georgian style public buildings such as Troon Town Hall, large hotels including Turnberry and Gleneagles, country mansions such as Kildonan, hospitals in Greenock, Glasgow, Perth and Stirling, and, as can be seen here, relatively modest Arts and Crafts style domestic dwellings.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77771490

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Old House Care and Repair